EXCHANGE 


THE  PSALMS  IN   HUMAN   LIFE 


FIRST  EDITION 
Reprinted       . 
SECOND  EDITION 
NEW  EDITION 
5-f.  net  EDITION 
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December  1903 

January  1904 

January  1904 

March  1904 

September  1 904 

October  1 904 

December  1904 

December  1904 

February  1905 

December  1905 


THE  PSALMS  IN 
HUMAN    LIFE 


BY    ROWLAND    E.    PROTHERO,    M.V.O. 

FORMERLY   FELLOW  OF  ALL   SOULS'  COLLEGE,   OXFORD 
AUTHOR    OF    THE    "LIFE    OF    DEAN    STANLEY,"     ETC. 


NEW  YORK 
E.  P.  BUTTON  AND  COMPANY 

1905 


Printed  in  Great  Britain. 


PREFACE 

SOME  of  the  notes,  on  which  the  following  pages  are 
founded,  were  discussed  with  Dean  Stanley  in  1878. 
A  list  of  historical  instances  of  the  use  of  the  Psalms, 
made  by  the  Dean  himself,  was  sent  to  me  in  1895 
by  the  Right  Rev.  H.  H.  Montgomery,  then  Bishop 
of  Tasmania.  To  it  I  am  indebted  for  the  reference 
(page  358),  to  the  reopening  of  the  Cathedral  at 
Moscow,  after  the  French  invasion  of  1812. 

Since  my  collection  of  notes  was  begun,  the 
ground  has  been  partly  occupied  by  the  Rev.  John 
Ker,  D.D.  (1886),  and  the  Rev.  Charles  L.  Marson 
(1895).  But  Dr  Ker's  book  was  unfinished,  and 
both  he  and  Mr  Marson  followed  a  method  of  treat- 
ment different  from  that  which  is  adopted  in  the 
following  pages. 

In  Appendix  A  will  be  found  a  general  list  of 
the  principal  authorities.  Appendix  B  arranges  the 
historical  instances,  which  in  the  text  are  grouped, 
more  or  less,  in  order  of  time,  under  the  particular 
Psalms  that  are  quoted.  The  Index  contains,  in 
addition  to  the  ordinary  matter,  references  to 
the  books  from  which  the  historical  instances  are 

derived. 

a  i 


vi  PREFACE 

For  assistance  in  the  preparation  of  Appendix  A, 
and  for  the  Index,  I  am  indebted  to  Mr  G.  H. 
Holden,  Assistant  Librarian  of  All  Souls'  College, 
Oxford,  and  to  Mr  C.  Nolan  Ferrall.  To  Mr  Holden 
I  owe  Appendix  B. 

ROWLAND  E.  PROTHERO. 

Gth  September  1903. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTEK  I 

GENERAL 

PAGIfl 

The  Psalms  as  the  mirror  of  the  human  soul ;  their  association  with 
national  and  individual  life ;  their  universality ;  not  limited  to 
any  age,  nation,  or  variety  of  Christian  creed ;  their  transla- 
tion into  verse ;  their  influence  in  literature ;  the  first  of  religious 
autobiographies ;  power  over  human  lives  in  all  ages  of  history  1-10 

CHAPTEE  II 

EARLY  AGES   OF  CHRISTIANITY 

The  Psalms  in  services,  ceremonies,  and  the  catacombs ;  use  in 
persecution  —  Crispin  and  Crispinian,  Theodore  the  Martyr, 
the  Saracen  convert,  the  Emperor  Maurice  ;  in  public  worship ; 
in  ordinary  life — Origen,  the  family  of  Gregory  Nazianzen, 
Monica ;  on  deathbeds — Basil  the  Great,  Ambrose,  Paulinus 
of  Nola,  Cyril  of  Alexandria ;  influence  of  the  Psalms  in  Monas- 
ticism — the  Egyptian  Anchorites,  Basil  and  monastic  com- 
munities of  the  East,  Athanasius  and  the  West,  Jerome  and 
Paula,  Martin  of  Tours  ;  the  Psalms  in  action — struggle  between 
Church  and  State — Athanasius  and  Constantius,  Basil  and 
Valens,  Ambrose  and  Theodosius ;  the  Psalms  in  human 
thought — Confessions  of  Augustine  ....  11-39 

CHAPTEK  III 

THE  FORMATION  OF  NATIONS 

The  invasions  of  the  barbarians  ;  supremacy  of  moral  power  over 
brute  force,  Totila  and  Benedict;  the  Rule  of  Benedict; 
monastic  missionaries ;  translation  of  the  Psalms  into  Scla- 
vonic; the  Psalms  in  the  lives  of  Columban,  Gall,  Patrick, 
Columba,  Cuthbert;  Irish  and  British  Christianity— Battle  of 
Mold,  Kentigern,  Bangor ;  Roman  Christianity — the  island 
of  Death  and  Silence ;  Gregory  the  Great ;  coming  of  Augus- 
tine ;  introduction  of  Benedictine  Rule ;  its  foundation  on  the 
Psalms  ;  its  establishment  in  England— Benedict  Biscop,  Wil- 
frid, Neot,  Dunstan  ;  universality  of  the  Rule  .  .  .  40-67 


Vlll 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTEK   IV 

• 

THE  MIDDLE  AGES 

The  battle  of  Vougle* ;  the  Psalms  in  ecclesiastical  or  semi-ecclesi- 
astical history  (1)  The  Papacy  and  the  Empire — Charlemagne, 
Gregory  VII.  and  Henry  IV.,  Anselm  and  William  Rufus, 
Henry  II.  and  Thomas  a  Becket,  Alexander  III.  and  Frederick 
Barbarossa;  (2)  pilgrimages;  (3)  the  crusades,  Abp.  Baldwin, 
Richard  I.,  Henry  V.,  Abbot  Adelme  at  the  Tagus,  Cardinal 
Ximenes,  Demetrius  of  the  Don ;  (4)  the  religious  revival, 
Bernard,  Stephen  Harding  and  the  Cistercian  reform,  Citeaux 
and  Fountains  Abbey,  Francis  of  Assisi  and  the  Franciscans ; 
the  Psalms  in  secular  history  —  William  tlje  Conqueror, 
Vladimir  Monomachus,  David  I.  of  Scotland,  Abelard  and 
Heloise,  Louis  IX.  of  France,  William  Wallace ;  in  mediaeval 
science ;  in  mediaeval  literature — De  Imitation?,  Christi,  Divina 
Commedia,  Piers  Plowman,  The  Golden  Legend .... 


68-112 


CHAPTEK  V 

THE  REFORMATION  ERA 

The  influence  of  the  Psalms  among  pioneers  of  the  Reformation — 
Wyclif,  John  Hus,  Jerome  of  Prague;  among  mediaeval 
reformers  —  Savonarola ;  among  Protestant  leaders  —  Luther 
and  Melancthon;  among  champions  of  the  Papacy— the 
Emperor  Charles  V. ;  among  discoverers  of  New  Worlds- 
Christopher  Columbus ;  among  men  of  the  New  Learning — 
Erasmus,  Pico  della  Mirandola,  Sir  Thomas  More;  John 
Fisher ;  John  Houghton ;  among  leaders  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
Reaction— Xavier  and  Teresa ;  among  Protestant  and  Roman 
Catholic  Martyrs— Hooper.  Ridley,  and  Southwell 


113-143 


CHAPTER    Vi 

THE     STRUGGLE     BETWEEN     PROTESTANT    ENGLAND 
CATHOLIC   SPAIN 


AND    ROMAN 


The  Psalms  in  the  vulgar  tongue,  the  English  Prayer-book  version ; 
metrical  translations,  Germany,  France,  England,  Scotland; 
growth  of  the  influence  of  the  Psalms  in  the  sixteenth  and 
seventeenth  centuries  ;  Lady  Jane  Grey ;  the  Duke  of  Suffolk ; 
Counts  Egmont  and  Horn ;  accession  of  Queen  Elizabeth ;  the 
murder  of  Darnley ;  execution  of  Mary,  Queen  of  Scots ;  the 
Spanish  Armada ;  the  Turkey  merchantmen  ;  the  wreck  of 
the  Tobie;  the  Earl  of  Essex;  Burghley;  Bacon;  Shakes- 
peare; Richard  Hooker;  Bishop  Jewel;  George  Herbert; 
Hooker  on  the  Psalms 


J44-179 


CONTENTS  ix 

CHAPTEE   VII 

THE  HUGUENOTS,   1524-98 

PAGES 

Marot's  Psalms  at  Court ;  the  distinctive  heritage  of  the  Huguenots  ; 
the  power  of  the  Psalms  in  the  public  and  private  lives  of  the 
Huguenots — Palissy  the  potter,  Calvin,  Theodore  de  Beza, 
Robert  Estienne,  Casaubon,  Jean  Rousseau ;  traces  in  modern 
France  of  the  struggle  between  Roman  Catholics  and  Hugue- 
nots ;  beginning  of  the  persecution  of  Protestants  —  Jean 
Leclerc  (1524),  Wolfgang  Schuch  (1525);  indecision  of  Francis 
I. ;  the  Huguenot  martyrs  of  Meaux,  Jean  Rabec,  massacre 
of  Vassy;  commencement  of  the  Wars  of  Religion  (1562); 
Coligny  at  Noyers  and  Moncontour ;  Massacre  of  St  Bartho- 
lomew (1572) ;  Henry  of  Navarre,  flight  from  Paris  to  Alenson, 
battles  of  Courtras  and  Chateau  d'Arques ;  Edict  of  Nantes 
(1598)  180-201 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE  HUGUENOTS,  1600-1762  (continued) 

The  Roman  Cathclic  Reaction— Vincent  de  Paul,  Francois  de 
Sales  :  changed  conditions  of  the  Huguenot  cause ;  their  effect 
on  the  charactf  r  of  the  Wars  of  Religion,  1621-29— Henri  de 
Rohan,  sieges  of  Montauban  and  La  Rochelle ;  the  Roman 
Catholic  triumph  and  maintenance  of  the  strictest  ortho- 
doxy— Port  Royal,  Pascal,  Madame  Guy  on ;  edicts  against 
the  Huguenots  and  the  use  of  the  Psalter:  the  Vaudois 
and  Henri  Arnaud ;  revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes 
(1685);  persecution  of  the  French  Huguenots;  the  rising  in  the 
Cevennes — murder  of  Francois  du  Chayla,  Cavalier  and  the 
Camisards,  Bellot,  Martignargues  (1704),  Salindres  (1709);  the 
Pastors  of  the  Desert  —  Rang,  Roger,  Benezet,  Rochette; 
effect  of  the  Psalms  on  the  virtues  and  defects  of  the  Huguenots  202-228 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE  PUKITANS,  1600-1660 

The  Pilgrim  Fathers  and  Benjamin  Franklin ;  the  Psalms  among 
the  royalists — Jeremy  Taylor,  Bishop  Sanderson,  Strafford, 
and  Laud :  the  Civil  War — Marston  Moor,  John  Hampden, 
Charles  I.  at  Newark ;  Puritanism  as  a  poetical,  religious,  and 
political  force  in  Milton,  Bunyan,  and  Cromwell.  .  .  229-260 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  X 

THE  SCOTTISH  COVENANTERS   AND  THE  REVOLUTION  OP 
1688 

PAGES 

Progress  of  the  Reformation  in  Scotland — George  Wishart,  John 
Knox,  James  Melville;  the  Solemn  League  and  Covenant 
(1638);  the  restoration  of  Episcopacy  (1661-4);  popular  dis- 
content— the  Pentland  rising,  Hugh  M'Kail,  Drumclog  and 
Bothwell  Bridge,  Richard  Cameron,  Donald  Cargill,  Baillie 
of  Jerviswood,  Alexander  Peden,  James  Renwick,  the  Wigtown 
Martyrs ;  the  Revolution  of  1688  ;  siege  of  Derry  (1689)  .  .  261-296 


CHAPTEE  XI 
1688-1900 

Changed  character  of  the  romance  of  religion  :  the  Psalms  in  the 
lives  of  religious  leaders — Baxter,  Law,  John  Wesley,  Charles 
Wesley,  William  Wilberforce,  Keble,  Manning,  Newman, 
Thomas  Arnold,  Julius  Hare,  Neander,  Charles  Kingsley, 
Stanley,  Chalmers,  Irving;  the  Psalms  in  the  lives  of  men 
of  science  —  Locke,  Humboldt,  Maine  de  Biran,  Sir  W. 
Hamilton,  Sir  James  Simpson,  Romanes ;  the  Psalms  in 
literature — Addison,  Cowper,  Boswell,  Scott,  Byron,  Hogg, 
Wordsworth,  Tennyson,  Matthew  Arnold,  Robert  Browning, 
Elizabeth  Barrett  Browning,  Fitzgerald,  Ruskin,  Carlyle  .  297-329 


CHAPTEK  XII 

1688-1900  (continued) 

The  Psalms  in  philanthropic  movements  —  Prison  Reform  and 
John  Howard ;  in  missionary  enterprises — John  Eliot,  David 
Brainerd,  William  Carey,  Henry  Martyn,  Alexander  Duff,  Allen 
Gardiner,  David  Livingstone,  Bishop  Hannington  ;  in  ordinary 
life— Colonel  Gardiner,  Thomas  Carlyle,  Jane  Welsh  Carlyle  ; 
in  secular  history — Brittany  and  La  Vendee,  the  execution 
of  Madame  de  Noailles,  the  evacuation  of  Moscow  in  1812,  the 
Revolution  of  1848,  Bourget  in  the  Franco-German  War  of 
1870-1,  Captain  Conolly  at  Bokhara  and  Havelock  at  Jellalabad, 
Duff,  Edwards,  and  "  Quaker  "  Wallace  in  the  Indian  Mutiny, 
the  Boer  War  .  330-368 


CONTENTS  xl 

APPENDICES 

APPBWUI*  PAGKfl 

A. — PRINCIPAL  AUTHORITIES  .....      871-889 

B.— INDEX  TO  THE  USE  or  PABTICULAH  PSALMS    .  .  .      390-395 

INDEX     .          «  .  .  .397 


THE    PSALMS    IN    HUMAN    LIFE 

CHAPTER  I 

GENERAL 

The  Psalms  as  the  mirror  of  the  human  soul :  their  association  with 
national  and  individual  life  :  their  universality  ;  not  limited  to 
any  age,  nation,  or  variety  of  Christian  creed  ;  their  translation 
into  verse ;  their  influence  in  literature ;  the  first  of  religious 
autobiographies ;  power  over  human  lives  in  all  ages  of  history. 

ABOVE  the  couch  of  David,  according  to  Rabbinical 
tradition,  there  hung  a  harp.  The  midnight  breeze, 
as  it  rippled  over  the  strings,  made  such  music  that 
the  poet-king  was  constrained  to  rise  from  his  bed, 
and,  till  the  dawn  flushed  the  eastern  skies,  he  wedded 
words  to  the  strains.  The  poetry  of  that  tradition  is 
condensed  in  the  saying  that  the  Book  of  Psalms  con- 
tains the  whole  music  of  the  heart  of  man,  swept  by 
the  hand  of  his  Maker.  In  it  are  gathered  the  lyrical 
burst  of  his  tenderness,  the  moan  of  his  penitence,  the 
pathos  of  his  sorrow,  the  triumph  of  his  victory,  the 
despair  of  his  defeat,  the  firmness  of  his  confidence, 
the  rapture  of  his  assured  hope.  In  it  is  presented 
the  anatomy  of  all  parts  of  the  human  soul ;  in  it,  as 
Heine  says,  are  collected  "  sunrise  and  sunset,  birth 
and  death,  promise  and  fulfilment — the  whole  drama 
of  humanity." 

In  the  Psalms  is  painted,  for  all  time,  in  fresh  un- 

A 


2  GENERAL 

fading  colours,  the  picture  of  the  moral  warfare  of 
man,  often  baffled  yet  never  wholly  defeated,  strug- 
gling upwards  to  all  that  is  best  and  highest  in  his 
nature,  always  aware  how  short  of  the  aim  falls  the 
attempt,  how  great  is  the  gulf  that  severs  the  wish 
.  from  its  fulfilment.  In  them  we  do  not  find  the 
innocent  converse  of  man  with  God  in  the  Garden  of 
Eden ;  if  we  did,  the  book  would  for  our  fallen  natures 
Jose  its  value.  On  the  contrary,  it  is  the  revelation 
of  a  soul  deeply  conscious  of  sin,  seeking,  in  broken 
accents  of  shame  and  penitence  and  hope,  to  renew 
personal  communion  with  God,  heart  to  heart,  thought 
to  thought,  and  face  to  face.  It  is  this  which  gives 
to  the  Psalms  their  eternal  truth.  It  is  this  which 
makes  them  at  once  the  breviary  and  the  viaticum  of 
humanity.  Here  are  gathered  not  only  pregnant 
statements  of  the  principles  of  religion,  and  condensed 
maxims  of  spiritual  life,  but  a  promptuary  of  effort,  a 
summary  of  devotion,  a  manual  of  prayer  and  praise, 
— and  all  this  is  clothed  in  language,  which  is  as  rich 
in  poetic  beauty  as  it  is  universal  and  enduring  in 
poetic  truth. 

The  Psalms,  then,  are  a  mirror  in  which  each  man 
sees  the  motions  of  his  own  soul.  They  express  in 
exquisite  words  the  kinship  which  every  thoughtful 
human  heart  craves  to  find  with  a  supreme,  unchang- 
ing, loving  God,  who  will  be  to  him  a  protector, 
guardian,  and  friend.  They  utter  the  ordinary  expe- 
riences, the  familiar  thoughts  of  men ;  but  they  give  to 
these  a  width  of  range,  an  intensity,  a  depth,  and  an 
elevation,  which  transcend  the  capacity  of  the  most 
gifted.  They  translate  into  speech  the  spiritual 
passion  of  the  loftiest  genius ;  they  also  utter,  with 
the  beauty  born  of  truth  and  simplicity,  and  with 


THE  PSALMS  IN  NATIONAL  LIFE  3 

exact  agreement  between  the  feeling  and  the  expres- 
sion, the  inarticulate  and  humble  longings  of  the  un- 
lettered peasant.  So  it  is  that,  in  every  country,  the 
language  of  the  Psalms  has  become  part  of  the  daily 
life  of  nations,  passing  into  their  proverbs,  mingling 
with  their  conversation,  and  used  at  every  critical 
stage  of  existence. 

With  our  national,  as  well  as  with  our  private 
lives,  the  Psalms  are  inextricably  mingled.  On  the 
Psalms,  both  in  spirit  (Ps.  xx.  9),  and  language 
(Ps.  Ixviii.  1),  is  based  our  National  Anthem.  From 
the  lion  and  the  unicorn  of  Ps.  xxii.  21,  are  taken 
the  supporters  of  the  royal  arms.  In  all  the  Corona- 
tion Offices  from  Egbert  to  Edward  VII.,  not  only  the 
services,  but  the  symbolic  ceremonies  are  based  upon 
the  Psalms — the  oil  of  gladness  above  his  fellows, 
the  sword  girded  on  the  thigh  of  the  most  Mighty  one, 
the  crown  of  pure  gold,  the  sceptre  of  righteousness, 
the  throne  of  judgment.  In  Christian  Art,  as  the 
conventional  representation  of  the  Wise  Men  of  the 
East  as  three  kings  is  founded  on  the  Kings  of 
Tharsis,  Saba,  and  Arabia  of  Ps.  Ixxii.  10-11,  so  the 
use  of  the  Pelican  as  a  symbol  of  Christ  is  guided  by 
the  comparison  to  the  pelican  in  the  wilderness  of 
Ps.  cii.  6.  A  Psalm  (li.,  verse  1)  supplied  the  "neck 
verse  "  of  mediaeval  justice,  which  afforded  the  test  of 
benefit  of  clergy.  In  the  Psalms  ancient  families  have 
sought  their  mottoes,  such  as  the  "Fortuna  mea  in 
bello  campo"  (Ps.  xvi.  7)  of  the  Beauchamps,  the 
"Nisi  Dominus  frustra"  (Ps.  cxxvii.  1)  of  the  Comp- 
tons,  or  the  "  Non  dormit  qui  custodit "  (Ps.  cxxi.  3) 
of  the  Coghills.  Ancient  trade  guilds  have  found  in 
the  Psalms  the  legend  of  their  charter  of  incorporation, 
like  the  "  Omnia  subjecisti  sub  pedibus,  oves  et  boves  " 


4  GENERAL 

(Ps.  viii.  6-7)  of  the  Butchers'  Company.  From  the 
Psalms  Edinburgh  takes  its  motto  of  "  Nisi  Dominus 
frustra"  (Ps.  cxxvii.,  verse  1).  From  the  same  source 
the  University  of  Oxford  took  its  "Dominus  illumi- 
natio  mea"  (Ps.  xxvii.  1),  and  the  University  of 
Durham  its  "Fundamenta  ejus"  (Ps.  Ixxxvii.  1). 
Under  the  sanction,  as  it  were,  of  a  text  from  the 
Psalms  ("The  earth  is  the  Lord's,  and  all  that 
therein  is ;  the  compass  of  the  world,  and  they 
that  dwell  therein,"  Ps.  xxiv.,  verse  1),  was  held  the 
Great  Exhibition  of  1851.  "  Except  the  Lord  build 
the  house,  they  labour  in  vain  that  build  it"  (Ps. 
cxxvii.,  verse  1),  is  the  verse  chosen  by  Smeaton  for  the 
Eddystone  Lighthouse.  To  innumerable  almshouses, 
hospitals,  public  buildings  and  private  houses,  the 
Psalms  have  supplied  inscriptions.  To  coins  they 
have  furnished  legends,  like  the  coins  of  the  Black 
Prince  in  Guienne,  "  Dominus  adjutor  meus  et  pro- 
tector meus,"  etc.  (Ps.  xxviii.  8) ;  the  florin  of  Edward 
III.  in  1344,  "Domine,  ne  in  furore  arguas  me"  (Ps. 
vi.  1) ;  or  the  shilling  of  Edward  VI.  in  1549,  "  Inimicos 
ejus  induam  confusione  "  (Ps.  cxxxii.  19).  On  sword- 
blades,  trenchers,  and  rings,  verses  from  the  Psalms 
are  inscribed.  By  texts  from  the  Psalms,  sun-dials 
all  over  the  world  enforce  the  solemn  lesson  of  the 
passage  of  time.  Here  are  the  "Dies  mei  sicut 
umbra  declinaverunt "  (Ps.  cii.  11)  of  San  Michele  at 
Venice,  or  Langen  Schwalbach ;  the  English  version, 
"My  days  are  gone  like  a  shadow,"  at  Arbroath,  and 
St  Hilda's,  Whitby ;  and  the  same  idea,  "  L'homme  est 
semblable  a  la  vanite ;  ses  jours  sont  comme  une 
ombre  qui  passe "  (Ps.  cxliv.  4),  at  St  Brelade's,  in 
Jersey. 

With  a  psalm  we  are  baptised,  and  married,  and 


THE  PSALMS  IN  PRIVATE  LIFE  5 

buried  ;  with  a  psalm  we  begin,  and  realise  to  the  full, 
and  end,  our  earthly  existence.  With  what  strange 
power  do  the  familiar  words  of  the  Book  come  home 
to  us  as  we  grow  older !  Here  are  verses,  over  which 
have  stumbled,  forty  years  ago,  the  childish  lips  of 
brothers,  severed  from  us  by  years  of  change  and 
absence,  yet  now,  by  force  of  association  with  the 
Psalms,  seated  once  again  by  our  side  in  the  broken 
circle  of  home.  Here  again  is  a  passage,  which,  with 
trembling  voice  and  beating  heart,  we  read  aloud  by 
the  deathbed  of  one,  with  whose  passing  the  light 
faded  and  our  own  lives  grew  grey,  and  void,  and 
lampless.  Yet  still  it  is  to  the  Psalms,  even  when 
they  wound  us  most,  that  we  turn  for  help  and  com- 
fort. As  life's  evening  closes  round  us,  and  as  the 
winged  thoughts,  that  we  have  made  our  own,  sweep 
in  from  the  horizon  of  our  memories,  no  words  come 
home  to  us  with  swifter,  surer  flight  than  those  of  the 
Psalms. 

To  weary  travellers  of  every  condition  and  at  every 
period  of  history,  the  Psalms  have  been  rivers  of 
refreshment  and  wells  of  consolation.  They  alone 
have  known  no  limitations  to  a  particular  age,  country, 
or  form  of  faith.  In  them  the  spirit  of  controversy^ 
and  the  war  of  creeds  are  forgotten :  love  of  the 
Psalter  has  united  the  Anglican  and  Roman  Catholic, 
Presbyterian  and  Nonconformist.  Over  the  parched 
fields  of  theological  strife  the  breath  of  the  Psalms 
sweeps,  fresh  and  balmy.  For  centuries  the  supplica- 
tions of  Christians,  clothed  in  the  language  of  the 
Psalter,  have  risen  like  incense  to  the  altar-throne  of 
God ;  in  them  have  been  expressed,  from  age  to  age, 
the  devotion  and  the  theology  of  religious  communions 
that,  in  all  else,  were  at  deadly  feud.  Surviving  al) 


6  GENERAL 

the  changes  in  Church  and  State,  in  modes  of  thought, 
in  habits  of  life,  in  forms  of  expression,  the  Psalms,  as 
devotional  exercises,  have  sunk  into  our  hearts ;  as 
sublime  poetry,  have  fired  our  imaginations ;  as  illus- 
trations of  human  life,  have  arrested  our  minds  and 
stored  our  memories. 

In  the  Psalms  the  vast  hosts  of  suffering  humanity 
have  found,  from  the  time  of  Jonah  to  the  present  day, 
the  deepest  expression  of  their  hopes  and  fears.  As 
our  Lord  Himself  died  with  the  words  of  a  psalm 
upon  His  lips,  so  the  first  martyr,  Stephen,  had  used 
the  words  thus  hallowed.  So  also,  in  prison  at  Philippi, 
Paul  and  Silas  encouraged  themselves  by  singing 
psalms  throughout  the  night.  It  was  by  the  Psalms 
that  the  anguish,  wrung  from  tortured  lips  on  the  cross, 
at  the  stake,  on  the  scaffold,  and  in  the  dungeon,  has 
been  healed  and  solaced.  Strong  in  the  strength  that 
they  impart,  young  boys  and  timid  girls  have  risen 
from  their  knees  in  the  breathless  amphitheatre, 
thronged  with  its  quivering  multitudes,  and  boldly 
faced  the  lions.  Neither  the  rudeness  of  mosaic  art, 
nor  the  lapse  of  sixteen  centuries,  has  obliterated  the 
radiant  smile  of  triumph,  with  which  St  Agnes  and 
her  companions,  on  the  walls  of  S.  Apollinare  Nuovo 
at  Ravenna,  press  forward  to  greet  Him,  for  whose 
sake  they  gave  their  young  and  tender  bodies  to  be 
tortured.  With  the  Psalms  upon  their  tongues,  myriads 
have  died — now  in  quiet  sick-rooms,  surrounded  by 
all  who  have  loved  them  best  in  life — now  alone,  and 
far  from  home  and  kindred — now  hemmed  in  by  fierce 
enemies  howling  for  their  blood.  Thus  in  the  Psalms 
there  are  pages  which  are  stained  with  the  life-blood 
of  martyrs,  and  wet  with  the  tears  of  saints ;  others, 
which  are  illuminated  by  the  victories  of  weak  human- 


THE  PSALMS  IN  ENGLISH  VERSE  7 

ity  over  suffering  and  fear  and  temptation;  others, 
which  glow  with  the  brightness  of  heroic  constancy 
and  almost  superhuman  courage.  Over  the  familiar 
words  are  written,  as  it  were  in  a  palimpsest,  the 
heart-stirring  romances  of  spiritual  chivalry,  the  most 
moving  tragedies  of  human  life  and  action. 

How  much,  or  how  little,  of  our  religion  is  a 
matter  of  habit,  or  a  personal  acquisition,  this  is  no 
place  to  inquire.  But  assuredly  the  Psalms  gain  in 
interest  and  power  from  their  associations  with  human - 
history,  and  from  their  use  by  our  fellow-men  in  every 
form  of  trial  which  can  confront  humanity.  They  have 
inspired  some  of  the  noblest  hymns  in  our  language. 
Their  rendering  into  verse  has  occupied  many  of  the 
most  gifted  men  in  the  history  of  our  nation — knights 
of  chivalry,  like  Sir  Philip  Sidney,  aided  by  his  sister, 
Margaret,  Countess  of  Pembroke ;  men  of  science,  like 
Lord  Bacon,  in  whose  version  the  philosopher  over- 
masters the  poet;  classical  scholars,  like  George  Sandys, 
one  of  the  most  successful  of  early  versifiers ;  courtiers, 
like  Sir  Thomas  Wyatt ;  ambassadors,  like  Sir  Thomas 
Smith,  Sir  Henry  Wotton,  or  Hookham  Frere ;  dis- 
tinguished prelates,  such  as  Archbishop  Parker,  or 
Bishop  Ken,  or  Bishop  Hall,  or  Bishop  King ;  queens 
and  kings,  like  Elizabeth,  or  James  I. ;  sturdy  Puritans, 
such  as  Francis  Kous ;  Cromwellian  captains,  like 
Thomas,  Lord  Fairfax,  or  George  Wither,  whose 
sweet  vein  of  early  poetry  was  soured  by  the  vinegar 
of  politics  and  polemics;  poets,  like  Crashaw,  Phinehas 
Fletcher,  Henry  Vaughan,  Burns,  Cowper,  or  Milton, 
whose  versions,  with  one  exception,  fall  below  the 
standard  which  we  should  have  expected  his  lyric 
genius  and  devotional  fervour  to  attain ;  parish  priests, 
like  George  Herbert  and  John  Keble ;  heroes  of  the 


8  GENERAL 

Dunciad,  like  Sir  Bichard  Blackmore  and  Luke  Mil- 
bourne  ;  masters  of  prose,  like  Addison ;  Methodists, 
like  Charles  Wesley ;  Nonconformists,  such  as  Isaac 
Watts,  whose  version  of  Ps.  xc.,  "  O  God,  our  help  in 
ages  past,"  is  perhaps  the  finest  hymn  in  the  English 
language. 

Poets  and  men  of  letters,  like  Dante  and  Camoens, 
Shakespeare  and  Cervantes,  Wordsworth,  Walter 
Scott,  Carlyle  and  Buskin,  Heine  and  Herder,  Pascal 
and  Lamartine,  have  acknowledged  the  unrivalled 
charm  of  the  Psalter.  From  the  Psalms  hymn- 
writers  have  drawn  their  most  striking  inspirations; 
to  turn  them  into  verse  has  been  the  occupation  of 
men  of  all  nationalities,  professions,  and  pursuits  at 
every  period  of  history ;  their  language,  imagery,  and 
ideas  have  fascinated  men  of  the  highest  poetic  genius. 
But  besides  the  indirect  influence  which  they  have 
thus  exercised  on  literature,  the  Psalms  may  be  said 
to  have  created  a  literature  of  their  own.  Of  all  that 
mass  of  writings  in  which  is  recorded  the  inner  life 
of  Christians,  they  are  the  precursors  and  the  pattern. 
They  are  the  parents  of  those  religious  autobiogra- 
phies which,  even  in  literary  and  psychological  in- 
terest, rival,  if  they  do  not  surpass,  the  Confessions 
of  Bousseau,  or  the  Truth  and  Fiction  of  Goethe. 
From  the  Psalms  are  descended  books  like  the  Con- 
fessions of  St  Augustine,  the  Imitation  of  Christ  of 
Thomas  a  Kempis,  the  Grace  Abounding  of  John 
Bunyan,  the  Devotions  of  Bishop  Andrewes,  the 
Thoughts  of  Blaise  Pascal 

In  the  pages  of  such  works  the  tone  and  spirit  of 
the  Psalms  are  faithfully  represented ;  whether  in 
devotional  exercises,  in  guides  to  the  spiritual  life,  in 
meditations  and  counsels  on  holy  living  and  holy 


IN  RELIGIOUS  AUTOBIOGRAPHIES  9 

dying,  or  in  the  unconscious  records  of  the  personal 
history  of  religious  minds,  their  influence  is  everywhere 
present.  They  are  the  inspiration  of  that  soliloquy 
at  the  throne  of  God,  in  which  Augustine  revealed  his 
soul  before  a  world  which  is  yet  listening,  as  for  fifteen 
centuries  it  has  listened,  to  the  absolute  truthfulness 
of  his  Confessions.  They  are  the  wings  which  lifted 
Thomas  a  Kempis  out  of  his  white-washed  cell,  bore 
him  above  the  flat  meadows  of  St  Agnes,  and  floated 
heavenwards  those  mystic  musings  of  the  Imitation 
which  thrilled  with  mingled  awe  and  hope  the  heart 
of  Maggie  Tulliver.  They  lent  their  height  and  depth 
to  the  religion  of  Bishop  Andre wes,  whose  private 
prayers,  in  their  elevation  above  doctrinal  contro- 
versies, in  their  manliness  and  reality,  and  in  the  com- 
prehensiveness of  their  horizon,  seem  to  translate,  for 
individual  use  in  the  closet,  the  public  worship  of  the 
Anglican  Church.  They  were  the  live  coal  which 
touched  the  lips  of  John  Bunyan,  and  transformed 
the  unlettered  tinker  into  a  genius  and  a  poet,  as, 
with  a  pen  of  iron  and  in  letters  of  fire,  he  wrote  the 
record  of  his  passage  from  death  to  life.  They 
sharpened  the  keen  sight  with  which  Pascal  pierced 
to  the  heart  of  truth,  and  nerved  the  courage  with 
which  he  confronted  the  mysteries  of  the  vision  that 
his  lucid  intellect  conjured  up  before  his  eyes.  Thus 
the  Psalms,  apart  from  their  own  transcendent  beauty 
and  universal  truth,  have  enriched  the  world  by  the 
creation  of  a  literature  which,  century  after  century, 
has  not  only  commanded  the  admiration  of  sceptics, 
but  elevated  the  characters  of  innumerable  believers, 
encouraged  their  weariness,  consoled  their  sorrows, 
lifted  their  doubts,  and  guided  their  wavering  foot- 
steps. 


10  GENERAL 

So  far  I  have  spoken  mainly  of  the  influence  of  the 
Psalms  on  human  thought.  But  their  workings  in 
the  sphere  of  human  action  have  been  equally  striking 
and  equally  universal.  No  fragment  of  the  glorious 
temples  at  Jerusalem  has  survived  the  lapse  of  time ; 
but  the  imperishable  hymns  of  the  Jewish  worship 
rule  the  hearts  of  men  with  more  than  their  pristine 
power,  and  still  continue  to  inspire  and  elevate  the 
conduct  and  devotions  of  successive  generations  of 
mankind.  Fathers  of  the  early  Church,  like  Origen, 
Athanasius  and  Jerome,  Basil,  Ambrose  and  Augus- 
tine— apostles  of  British  Christianity,  such  as  Columba, 
Cuthbert,  Wilfrid,  Dunstan,  and  Bede  —  mediaeval 
saints,  like  Bernard,  Francis  of  Assisi,  or  Thomas  of 
Villanova — statesmen,  like  Ximenes,  Burghley,  and 
Gladstone — have  testified  to  the  universal  truth  and 
beauty  of  the  Psalms.  With  a  psalm  upon  their  lips 
died  Wyclif,  Hus,  and  Jerome  of  Prague,  Luther 
and  Melancthon.  Philosophers,  such  as  Bacon  and 
Locke  and  Hamilton ;  men  of  science,  like  Humboldt 
and  Eomanes ;  among  missionaries,  Xavier,  Martyn, 
Duff,  Livingstone,  Mackay  and  Hannington;  explorers, 
like  Columbus ;  scholars,  like  Casaubon  and  Sal- 
masius ;  earthly  potentates,  like  Charlemagne,  Vladi- 
mir Monomachus,  Hildebrand,  Louis  IX.,  Henry  V., 
Catherine  de  Medicis,  Charles  V.,  Henry  of  Navarre, 
and  Mary,  Queen  of  Scots — have  found  in  the  Psalms 
their  inspiration  in  life,  their  strength  in  peril,  or  their 
support  in  death. 

To  collect  together  some  of  the  countless  instances 
in  which  the  Psalms  have  thus  guided,  controlled  and 
sustained  the  lives  of  men  and  women  in  all  ages  of 
human  history,  and  at  all  crises  of  their  fate,  is  the 
purpose  of  this  book. 


CHAPTER  II 

EARLY   AGES   OF   CHRISTIANITY 

The  Psalms  in  services,  ceremonies,  and  the  catacombs ;  use  in 
persecution — Crispin  and  Crispinian,  Theodore  the  Martyr, 
the  Saracen  convert,  the  Emperor  Maurice;  in  public 
worship ;  in  ordinary  life — Origen,  the  family  of  Gregory 
Nazianzen,  Monica  ;  on  deathbeds  —  Basil  the  Great, 
Ambrose,  Paulinus  of  Nola,  .Cyril  of  Alexandria;  influence 
of  the  Psalms  in  Monasticism — the  Egyptian  Anchorites, 
Basil  and  monastic  communities  of  the  East,  Athanasius  and 
the  West,  Jerome  and  Paula,  Martin  of  Tours ;  the  Psalms 
in  action — struggle  between  Church  and  State — Athanasius 
and  Constantius,  Basil  and  Valens,  Ambrose  and  Theodosius ; 
the  Psalms  in  human  thought — Confessions  of  Augustine. 

THOUGH  the  influence  of  the  Psalms  has  been  con- 
fined to  no  age,  no  nation,  no  class,  and  no  creed, 
there  have  been  special  periods  when  they  have 
spoken  with  peculiar  force.  This  has  been  particu- 
larly the  case  in  times  of  persecution,  when  circum- 
stances gave  to  the  words  an  immediate  personal 
application.  Such  a  period  was  the  infancy  of 
Christianity.  Secretly,  under  cover  of  night,  or  at 
early  dawn,  children  cast  out  by  their  parents,  slaves 
oppressed  by  their  masters,  citizens  suspected  by 
their  neighbours,  subjects  proscribed  by  their  rulers, 
gathered  for  prayer  and  praise  in  the  catacombs  of 
great  cities,  in  workshops,  or  in  the  upper  rooms  of 
retired  houses  on  the  outskirts  of  towns.  Of  their 


12  EARLY  AGES  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

religious  services  the  Psalms  formed  a  conspicuous 
part,  and  special  Psalms  were  soon  appropriated  to 
particular  occasions,  such  as  the  73rd  for  the  morn- 
ing and  the  141st  for  the  evening  worship.  These 
little  companies  of  wool-workers,  cobblers,  fullers, 
craftsmen,  and  slaves — "the  most  vulgar  and  illiter- 
ate of  mankind " — with  whom  assembled  a  handful 
of  persons  of  higher  rank,  centurions,  government 
officials,  and  ladies  of  noble  birth,  met  together  in 
danger  of  their  lives.  The  ceremony  which  admitted 
them  into  this  proscribed  and  perilous  company  found 
its  symbol  in  a  psalm.  The  hart  (Ps.  xlii.,  verse  1) 
was  the  emblem  of  those  thirsting  souls  who,  in  the 
cooling  streams  of  the  baptismal  font,  drank  freely 
of  the  fountain  of  eternal  life.  Once  admitted,  they 
were  as  "  sheep  appointed  to  be  slain  " ;  but  the  Lord 
was  their  Shepherd,  and  their  trust  in  Him,  conquer- 
ing their  fears,  still  speaks  in  the  rude  pictures  on 
the  walls  of  subterranean  Home. 

The  language  of  the  Psalms  was  ever  on  the  lips 
of  those  who,  in  the  early  history  of  Christianity, 
suffered  violent  deaths  for  or  in  the  faith.  A  Psalm 
(xxiii.)  was  fitly  chosen  by  Augustine  as  the  hymn  of 
martyrs.  It  was  in  the  words  of  Ps.  cxv.,  verses  4 
and  5,  "Their  idols  are  silver  and  gold,"  etc.,  that 
Christians  defied  the  imperial  order  to  sacrifice  to 
Caesar,  and  it  was  with  a  psalm  that  they  met  the 
torturer  or  the  executioner.  At  Soissons,  for  instance, 
in  the  Diocletian  persecution  of  288,  two  brothers, 
Crispin  and  Crispinian,  afterwards  the  patrons  of 
shoemakers,  suffered  torture  and  death.  For  love 
of  Christianity,  they  had  renounced  the  honours  of 
their  birth,  and  made  shoes  for  the  poor.  In  their 
prolonged  torments  they  were  sustained  by  the  words 


THE  AGE  OF  PERSECUTION  13 

of  Ps.  Ixxix.,  verses  9-10,  "Help  us,  O  God  of  our 
salvation,  for  the  glory  of  Thy  Name.  .  .  .  Wherefore 
do  the  heathen  say,  Where  is  now  their  God  ? " 
Their  bodies,  thrown  into  the  river,  were  carried  to 
the  sea.  The  waves,  so  runs  the  legend,  for  love  of 
the  Blessed  Feet  which  once  had  walked  upon  them, 
wafted  the  mangled  bodies  of  His  martyrs  to  the 
shores  of  Romney  Marsh,  where  the  inhabitants 
received  them  in  joy,  and  built  in  their  honour  the 
church  of  Lydd.  ^Theodore  the  Martyr,  the  young 
soldier  who  rashly  burned  to  the  ground  the  temple 
of  the  Mother  of  the  Gods  at  Amasea  in  306,  found 
strength  to  endure  the  torture  by  chanting  Ps.  xxxiv., 
verse  1,  "I  will  alway  give  thanks  unto  the  Lord ; 
His  praise  shall  ever  be  in  my  mouth."  Another 
illustration  is  the  story  told  by  Gregory  of  Decapolis. 
A  noble  Saracen,  converted  by  a  vision  of  the  Lamb 
of  God,  sought  a  Christian  teacher,  learnt  the  Psalter 
by  heart,  and  returned  to  his  native  land  to  preach 
the  faith  of  Christ.  But  his  countrymen  refused  his 
message,  and  stoned  him  to  death.  In  his  agony  he 
repeated  Ps.  xiii.,  verse  3,  "  Lighten  my  eyes,  that  I 
sleep  not  in  death."  It  was,  again,  a  psalm  that 
encouraged  the  Emperor  Maurice  to  bow  to  the  will 
of  God.  During  the  twenty  years  in  which  he  had 
ruled  the  Roman  Empire,  he  had  shown  many  of 
the  virtues  which,  in  582,  marked  him  out  to  succeed 
Tiberius  II.  But  the  army  turned  against  him,  and 
in  602  he  fled,  with  his  wife  and  children,  to  Chalcedon, 
to  escape  the  fury  of  the  deformed  and  disfigured 
Phocas.  He  did  not  long  remain  in  safety.  By 
order  of  Phocas,  he  and  his  five  sons  were  seized 
and  executed.  He  was  the  last  to  die.  As,  one  by 
one,  the  boys  were  murdered  before  his  eyes,  the 


14  EARLY  AGES  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

father  cried  aloud,  with  each  stroke  of  the  sword, 
"Righteous  art  Thou,  O  Lord,  and  true  is  Thy 
judgement "  (Ps.  cxix.,  verse  137).  Firm  in  his  ad- 
herence to  truth,  he  rejected  the  kindly  fraud  of  the 
nurse,  who  gave  her  own  child  to  save  one  of  the 
royal  princes,  and  thus  supplied  to  Corneille  the 
plot  of  Heraclius. 

As  Christianity  spread  and  became  a  power,  the 
Psalms  occupy  a  larger,  and  still  larger,  space.  Their 
use  in  public  worship  varied  in  different  Churches. 
Custom  prescribed  the  portions  that  should  be  read, 
or  sung,  or  expounded ;  but  they  formed  the  substance 
of  most  of  the  daily  services.  "  When  other  passages 
of  Scripture,"  writes  Ambrose,  "are  used  in  church, 
the  words  are  drowned  in  the  noise  of  talking.  But 
when  the  Psalter  is  read,  all  are  dumb."  Still  more 
striking  was  their  use  in  daily  life,  as  an  expression  of 
the  feeling  that  God  was  everywhere  present.  Clement 
of  Alexandria,  in  hisStromata  (vii.,  sect.  7),  says,  "We 
praise  God  as  we  till  our  lands ;  we  sing  to  Him  hymns 
as  we  are  sailing."  Sidonius  Apollinaris  describes 
how  the  boatmen,  toiling  with  bent  backs  to  urge  their 
laden  barges  against  the  stream,  sang  psalms  till  the 
river -banks  echoed  their  hallelujahs.  "Any  one 
possessed  of  his  five  wits,"  writes  Ambrose,  "should 
blush  with  shame  if  he  did  not  begin  the  day  with  a 
psalm,  since  even  the  tiniest  birds  open  and  close  the 
day  with  sweet  songs  of  holy  devotion."  "Of  other 
Scriptures,"  says  Theodore  of  Mopsuestia,  "most  men 
know  nothing.  But  the  Psalms  are  repeated  in  private 
houses,  in  streets,  and  market-places,  by  those  who 
have  learned  them  by  heart,  and  feel  the  soothing 
power  of  their  divine  melodies."  When  Paula  and 
Eustochium  wrote  from  Bethlehem  their  famous  letter 


IN  CHRISTIAN  HOMES  15 

to  Marcella,  they  exhort  her  to  flee  from  the  tumults 
and  distractions  of  Rome  to  the  solitude  of  Christ's 
village.  Here,  they  say,  is  the  quiet  of  country  life, 
unbroken  save  by  the  chanting  of  the  Psalms.  The 
ploughman,  leaning  on  his  plough -handle,  sings  in 
them  his  praises  to  God ;  the  sweating  reaper  lightens 
his  labours  with  the  chanting  of  the  Psalms  ;  the 
vine-dresser,  as  he  prunes  his  vines,  raises  one  of 
the  songs  of  David.  "The  Psalms  are  our  poetry, 
our  love-songs,  our  pastorals,  our  implements  of 
husbandry."* 

If  any  records  were  preserved,  it  would  probably 
be  found  that  the  Psalms  profoundly  influenced  Chris- 
tian homes  in  the  early  ages  of  the  Church.  But 
glimpses  of  the  inner  life  of  families  are  as  rare  as 
they  would  be  precious.  In  the  boyhood  of  Origen, 
one  significant  fact  is  recorded  which  proves  that  the 
Psalms  had  their  part  in  the  education  of  children. 
Jerome  says  that  the  boy  learnt  Hebrew  so  well  that 
he  vied  with  his  mother,  who  was  possibly  of  Jewish 
origin,  in  the  singing  of  psalms.  Better  known,  per- 
haps, than  that  of  any  other  Christian  household,  is 
the  domestic  life  of  Gregory  Nazianzen,  the  poet  of 
Eastern  Christendom,  and  one  of  the  greatest  of  its 
orators  and  theologians.  Gregory's  mother,  Nonna,  a 
woman  of  ardent  piety,  born  of  a  Christian  family,  and 
carefully  trained  in  the  faith,  was  "  a  housewife  after 
Solomon's  own  heart" — so  her  son  describes  her — 
"submissive  to  her  husband,  yet  not  ashamed  to  be 
his  guide  and  teacher."  It  was  Nonna's  constant 
prayer  that  her  husband,  Gregory,  should  become  a 

*  Haec  sunt  in  hac  provincia  carmina,  ha,  ut  vulgo  dicitur, 
amatoriae  cantationes,  hie  pastorum  sibilus,  haec  arma  cultures.— 
"Letter  to  Marcella,"  Palestine  Pilgrims'  Text  Society  [12], 


16  EARLY  AGES  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

convert,  for,  though  a  man  of  high  character  and  exem- 
plary life,  he  was  a  pagan.  A  dream  inspired  by  a 
psalm,  helped  her  to  gain  her  heart's  desire.  Pagan 
though  he  was,  her  husband  seems  to  have  known  the 
Psalms,  for  he  dreamed  that  he  was  singing  the  words, 
"  I  was  glad  when  they  said  unto  me,  We  will  go  into 
the  House  of  the  Lord"  (Ps.  cxxii.).  The  impression 
was  too  deep  to  pass  away  when  he  awoke.  After  a 
short  preparation,  he  was  baptised,  and  eventually 
became,  and  for  forty-five  years  remained,  Bishop  of 
Nazianzus  (329-74).  Gorgonia,  the  daughter  of 
Gregory  and  Nonna,  though  not  baptised  till  a  short 
time  before  her  death,  had  lived  a  Christian  life.  She 
had  long  felt,  says  her  brother,  a  desire  to  "depart 
and  be  with  Jesus."  So  great  was  the  longing,  that 
it  produced  a  presentiment  of  the  approach  of  her 
death,  and  an  anticipation  of  the  time  when  it  would 
take  place.  The  looked-for  day  found  her  aged  parents, 
her  husband,  and  her  daughter,  gathered  round  her 
bedside.  When  she  had  taken  her  leave  of  each  in 
turn,  the  bystanders  thought  she  was  already  dead. 
But  once  more  her  lips  were  seen  to  move,  and  the 
watchers,  stooping  over  the  bed,  heard  the  words, 
familiar  by  their  use  as  an  evening  psalm,  and  fitted 
to  the  close  of  her  earthly  day,  "  I  will  lay  me  down 
in  peace,  and  take  my  rest"  (Ps.  iv.  9).  So  died 
Gorgonia.  The  verse,  it  may  be  added,  was  loved  by 
Luther.  Writing  from  Coburg  to  Ludwig  Seuffel,  he 
asked  him  to  compose  for  him  a  requiem.  From  his 
youth,  he  said,  he  had  always  loved  the  concluding 
verses  of  the  4th  Psalm.  But,  as  he  learned  to  under- 
stand its  full  meaning,  and  as  he  hourly  prepared 
for  death,  the  last  verse  became  more  and  more  dear 
to  him,  and  he  would  gladly  sing,  and  hear  sung, 


THE  DEATH  OF  MONICA  17 

those   soothing  words,  "Ich   lieg  und   schlafe  ganz 
mit  Frieden." 

Yet  another  instance  is  afforded  by  the  death  of 
Monica,  the  mother  of  St  Augustine,  whose  patient 
perseverance  in  prayer,  and  reward  in  the  life  of  her 
son,  have  comforted  thousands  of  mothers  in  all  ages 
of  the  world's  history.  On  Easter  Sunday,  387,  Augus- 
tine had  been  baptised  by  Ambrose  at  Milan.  In  the 
summer  he  set  out  to  return  to  Africa  with  Monica. 
At  Ostia  they  paused  to  recruit  from  the  fatigues  of 
their  long  journey,  and  prepare  for  the  coming  voyage. 
Mother  and  son  were  leaning  on  the  ledge  of  a  window, 
which  looked  upon  the  garden  where  they  lodged. 
Alone  together,  away  from  the  crowd,  God  in  his 
secret  ways  having  so  ordered  it,  they  talked  of  the 
eternal  life  of  the  saints,  and  of  what  sort  it  should 
be,  "panting  with  the  lips  of  our  souls  for  those 
heavenly  streams  of  Thy  fountain,  the  fountain  of  life 
which  is  with  Thee."  It  is  the  moment  chosen  by  Ary 
Scheffer  for  his  famous  picture  : 

''The  dear  consenting  hands  are  knit, 
And  either  face,  as  there  they  sit, 
Is  lifted  as  to  something  seen 
Beyond  the  blue  serene." 

To  the  mother  it  seemed  that  the  purpose  of  her 
life  was  achieved,  now  that  she  had  seen  her  one 
longing  gratified  and  her  son  baptised  a  Christian. 
Five  or  six  days  later,  while  they  were  still  waiting  to 
embark,  Monica  was  struck  down  by  fever,  and  died 
in  the  fifty-sixth  year  of  her  age.  It  was  in  the  Psalms 
that  Augustine  found  comfort  in  his  sorrow.  When 
the  first  gush  of  weeping  was  over,  his  friend,  Euodius 
took  up  the  Psalter,  and  began  to  sing,  the  whole  house- 

B 


18  EARLY  AGES  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

hold  joining  with  him,  Psalm  ci.  "  My  song  shall  be 
of  mercy  and  judgement :  unto  Thee,  O  Lord,  will  I 
sing,'5  etc. 

Forty-three  years  later,  in  his  own  city  of  Hippo, 
closely  besieged  by  the  Vandals,  Augustine  himself 
died.  "It  was,"  says  his  biographer,  Possidius,  "a 
plain  and  barely  furnished  room  in  which  he  lay.  The 
seven  Penitential  Psalms  were,  by  his  orders,  written 
out,  and  placed  where  he  could  see  them  from  his  bed. 
These  he  looked  at  and  read  in  his  days  of  sickness, 
weeping  often  and  sore."  So,  with  his  eyes  fixed  on 
the  Psalms,  Augustine  passed  to  his  rest,  August  28th, 
430.  It  was  with  the  words  of  a  Psalm  upon  his  lips, 
"Into  Thy  hands  I  commend  my  spirit"  (Ps.  xxxi., 
verse  6),  that  Basil  the  Great  breathed  his  last  at 
Cesarea,  January  1st,  379,  his  deathbed  surrounded 
by  citizens  who  were  ready  to  shorten  their  own  lives, 
if  so  they  might  lengthen  the  days  of  their  Bishop. 
In  397,  Ambrose  lay  dying  at  Milan.  He  had,  as  is 
well  known,  introduced  into  the  Western  Church  the 
antiphonal  method  of  chanting  the  Psalms  which  was 
practised  in  the  East.  Almost  his  last  labour  was  a 
Commentary  on  Ps.  xliv. :  "  It  is  painful  to  wait  so 
long  for  the  day  when  mortality  shall  be  swallowed 
up  of  Life ;  but,  happily  the  torch  of  the  Word  of 
God  does  not  quit  mine  eyes."  He  died  as  he  reached 
verse  23  :  "  Up,  Lord,  why  sleepest  thou  :  awake  and 
be  not  absent  from  us  for  ever."  Paulinus,  Bishop  of 
Nola  (353-431),  as  the  hour  for  Vespers  approached, 
and  the  lamps  were  being  lighted  in  the  church  which 
he  had  built,  stretched  forth  his  hands  and  passed 
away,  repeating  the  words,  "  I  have  ordained  a  lantern 
for  mine  Anointed  "  (Ps.  cxxxii.  18).  With  the  same 
words  on  his  lips,  in  June  444,  died  Cyril,  Archbishop 


ORIGEN  19 

of  Alexandria,  whose  life-long  struggle  for  the  purity 
of  the  Christian  faith  has  been  overshadowed  by  his 
alleged  complicity  in  the  hideous  crime  of  the  murder 
of  Hypatia. 

But  if  we  pass  from  domestic  or  deathbed  scenes 
to  episodes  of  a  more  public  character,  the  recorded 
instances  of  the  influence  of  the  Psalms  are  multi- 
plied.    No  figure  in  the  early  history  of  the  Church 
is  more  attractive  than  that  of  Origen  (185-253).    The 
son  of  a  martyr,  the  master  of  disciples  who  braved 
martyrdom,  himself  a  confessor  who  endured  imprison- 
ment and  the  torture  of  the  chain,  the  collar  and  the 
rack,  he  dominated  the  century  as  much  by  his  char- 
acter as  by  his  genius.     In  his  childhood,  as  is  told 
above,  he  vied  with  his  mother  in  singing  the  Psalms, 
and  his  commentary  upon  them,  his  notes,  and  his 
homilies  bore  witness  to  their  abiding  influence  on  his 
mind.     During  the  persecution  of  Severus,  his  father, 
Leonides,  was  beheaded,  encouraged  by  Origen,  then 
a,  lad  of  seventeen,  to  die  without  thought  of  those  he 
left  behind.    The  lad  himself  was  only  prevented  from 
sharing  his  father's  fate  by  being  imprisoned  in  his  own 
aome.     In  after  years,  the  persecutions  which  he  en- 
lured  from  the  State  as  a  Christian  scarcely  exceeded 
^hose  which,  as  a  heretic,  he  suffered  from  the  Church. 
¥"et  friends  were  as  enthusiastic  as   enemies  were 
)itter.     Even  those  who  compared  him  to  Satan  paid 
lomage  to  his  gifts  by  admitting  that,  if  he  had  fallen 
rom  Heaven,  his  fall  was  like   the  lightning  flash. 
Driven  from  Alexandria,  he  travelled  from  place  to 
>lace,  fascinating  some  by  the  splendour  of  his  teach- 
ng,  terrifying  others  by  the  boldness  of  his  specula- 
ions.     So  journeying,  as  the  story  is  told,  he  came  to 
Ferusalem.     Somewhere  in  his  wanderings,  even  his 


20  EARLY  AGES  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

intrepid  spirit  had  recoiled  from  dread  of  torture.  He 
had  consented  to  sacrifice  to  Caesar ;  incense  had  been 
thrust  into  his  hand,  which  was  forced  over  the  altar. 
Remorse  overwhelmed  him,  when,  at  Jerusalem,  he 
was  entreated  to  preach.  Taking  the  Psalter  in  his 
hand,  he  prayed,  and,  opening  the  book,  read  the 
words  of  Ps.  1.,  verse  16,  "But  unto  the  ungodly 
said  God  :  Why  dost  thou  preach  My  laws,  and  takest 
My  covenant  in  thy  mouth  ? "  He  shut  the  book,  sat 
down  speechless,  and  burst  into  tears.  "  The  prophet 
David  himself  shut  the  door  of  my  lips,"  was  his 
bitter  lament,  as  he  applied  to  his  apostasy  the 
verse  (Ps.  Ixxx.  13),  "The  wild  boar  out  of  the 
wood  doth  root  it  up;  and  the  wild  beasts  of  the 
field  devour  it." 

As  the  fourth  century  dawns,  the  long  struggle 
between  Paganism  and  Christianity  entered  its  final 
stage.  On  the  death-agony  of  the  ancient  faith,  still 
enshrined  among  us  by  lingering  superstitions  and  a 
thousand  graceful  fictions  in  art  and  literature,  history 
is  comparatively  silent.  But  its  downfall  was  marked 
by  a  period  of  moral  relaxation  and  social  corruption, 
which  fostered  the  belief  that  it  was  the  highest  duty 
of  a  Christian  to  shun  a  polluted  world.  The  longing 
to  flee  away  and  be  at  rest  from  the  fury  of  persecu- 
tion, and  from  the  contamination  of  the  heathen, 
encouraged  the  growing  feeling.  Solitude  tempted 
some  men  as  a  refuge  from  spiritual  danger ;  to  others 
it  appealed  as  a  bolder  challenge  to  the  powers  of 
evil ;  to  yet  another  class  it  seemed  to  offer  at  once  a 
shelter  from  the  world,  and  the  supreme  test  of  self- 
denial.  Of  the  ascetic  principle,  the  most  famous 
example  was  Antony  (251-356),  born  in  the  lifetime 
of  Origen,  known  throughout  civilisation  by  the 


ANTONY  21 

pictures  of  Caracci,  Guido,  and  Salvator,  and  by  the 
quaint  legends  that  have  gathered  round  his  name. 
The  influence  which  he  and  his  followers  exercised 
upon  Christendom,  and  the  impulse  which  they  gave 
to  the  monastic  life,  are  almost  incalculable.  A 
psalm  was  at  once  the  weapon,  the  paean,  and  the 
rule,  of  two  of  the  earliest  leaders  in  the  new 
movement. 

Kich,  young,  and  an  orphan,  Antony  gave  all  his 
possessions  to  the  poor,  and  devoted  himself  to  the 
ascetic  life.  Unlike  the  anchorites  who  had  preceded 
him,  he  retired  to  a  distance  from  his  fellow-men.  To 
combine  in  himself  the  special  virtues,  to  which  other 
ascetics  had  respectively  attained,  was  his  constant 
effort.  To  be  as  prayerful  as  one,  as  courteous  as 
another,  as  patient  of  vigil  and  fast  as  a  third — this 
was  the  rivalry  on  which  his  ambitions  were  centred. 
There  were  times,  for  he  was  still  young,  when  his 
enthusiasm  failed,  his  courage  flagged,  and  the  temp- 
tations of  the  world  and  the  flesh  swept  over  him 
with  all  their  storms.  Yet  still  his  faith  triumphed 
over  every  assault.  The  Psalms  were  the  weapons 
with  which  he  met  the  evil  tendencies  that,  to  his 
overwrought  vision,  presented  themselves  in  material 
and  often  grotesque  forms.  It  was,  for  example,  with 
the  words,  "Some  put  their  trust  in  chariots,  and 
some  in  horses :  but  we  will  remember  the  Name  of 
the  Lord  our  God"  (Ps.  xx.,  verse  7),  that  he  put 
Satan  to  flight.  It  was  with  a  psalm  that  he  sang 
his  paean  of  victory.  So  sorely  beset  was  he  within 
the  ruined  tower  where  he  lived,  so  vehement  were 
the  sounds  of  the  strife,  that  the  multitude,  which  had 
gathered  to  see  and  hear  him,  believed  that  the  saint 
was  attacked  by  the  people  of  the  country.  Suddenly 


22  EARLY  AGES  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

the  clamour  ceased.  High  and  clear  rose  the  voice 
of  Antony  alone,  as  he  chanted  Ps.  Ixviii.  in  triumph 
at  his  victory  over  his  spiritual  foes. 

Is  Browning's  use  of  the  same  words  an  echo  of 
St  Antony?  As  Giuseppe  Caponsacchi  watches  by 
the  side  of  Pompilia,  hears  her  moaning  in  her  restless 
fevered  dreams,  and  sees  her  wave  away  some  evil 
spirit  that  threatens  her,  he  cries  : 

"Oh,  if  the  God,  that  only  can,  would  help  ! 
Am  I  his  priest  with  power  to  cast  out  fiends  ? 
'  Let  God  arise  and  all  his  enemies 
Be  scattered ! '     By  morn,  there  was  peace,  no  sigh 
Out  of  the  deep  sleep."  * 

Among  Antony's  most  distinguished  disciples  was 
Pambo.  Eminent  for  his  austerities,  he  had  taken  for 
his  special  rule  of  life  the  words  of  Ps.  xxxix.,  verse  1, 
"  I  said,  I  will  take  heed  to  my  ways,  that  I  offend 
not  in  my  tongue,"  and,  in  his  constant  effort  to  keep 
the  door  of  his  lips,  he  is  said  to  have  excelled  even 
Antony  himself.  Half  in  banter,  half  in  earnest, 
Browning  describes  Pambo, t  "arms  crossed,  brow 
bent,  thought-immersed,"  from  youth  to  age  pondering 
over  the  verse,  and  finding  in  the  seeming  simplicity 
of  the  command  enough  to  absorb  every  faculty  of 
mind  and  body,  so  long  as  life  endured. 

The  influence  of  Antony  and  other  hermits  spread 
from  Africa  to  Asia.  Monastic  communities  multi- 
plied rapidly,  and  in  their  religious  services  the  Psalms 
held  the  chief  place.  Of  such  communities  in  Eastern 
Christendom,  Basil  (329-79)  was  the  chief  organiser. 
The  secluded  place,  in  which  he  himself  fixed  his  own 
temporary  retreat,  lay  on  the  banks  of  the  river  Iris, 

*  The  Ring  and  the  Book,  Giuseppe  Caponsacchi,  1300-1304. 
t  Jocoseria.  Pambo, 


WESTERN  MONASTICISM  23 

near  Neo-Cesarea  in  Pontus — a  spot  as  beautiful  in 
his  eyes  as  "  Calypso's  Island."  He  describes  the 
devotional  exercises  which  his  communities  of  monks 
practised.  While  it  was  yet  night,  the  brethren  rose, 
as  in  the  days  of  persecution  Christians  had  risen  for 
concealment,  entered  the  house  of  prayer,  and,  after 
confession  to  God,  turned  to  the  singing  of  psalms. 
Now,  divided  two  by  two,  they  answered  each  other ; 
now,  one  led  the  chant,  the  rest  following.  Thus 
passed  the  night  till  the  day  began  to  dawn.  As 
morning  broke,  they  all  in  common,  with  one  mouth 
and  from  one  heart,  lifted  to  the  Lord  the  Psalm  of 
Confession  (Ps.  cxviii.).  As  the  day  began,  so  it 
ended. 

Nor  was  the  fame  of  the  Egyptian  anchorites  con- 
fined to  the  East.  It  crossed  the  sea  to  Europe.  In 
Koman  society,  as  the  fourth  century  advanced,  two 
opposite  tendencies  were  equally  marked.  A  startling 
contrast  was  presented  between  the  unbridled  luxury 
of  the  Imperial  City  and  its  inclination  to  the  solitude 
and  severity  of  monastic  life.  From  340  to  343 
Athanasius,  an  exile  and  a  fugitive,  had  found  a 
refuge  at  Rome.  The  spell  of  his  master-mind,  his 
enthusiasm  for  the  monks  of  the  desert,  the  life  of 
Antony,  and  the  presence  of  two  Egyptian  anchorites, 
seized  the  imagination  of  Koman  patricians.  Slumber- 
ing fire  leaped  into  flame,  as  Athanasius  revealed  the 
grandeur  of  human  self-abnegation,  and  he  thus 
became,  through  Antony,  the  spiritual  ancestor  of 
Western  monasticism. 

A  few  years  later,  Marcella,  a  young  and  wealthy 
Roman  widow,  who  had,  as  a  child,  heard  from  the 
lips  of  Athanasius  descriptions  of  the  Thebaid  and 
of  Antony,  bade  adieu  to  the  world,  and  made  of  her 


24  EARLY  AGES  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

palace  on  the  Aventine  Mount  her  cell,  and  of  its 
garden  her  desert.  Bound  her  gathered  a  little  knot 
of  women,  like-minded  with  herself,  who  devoted 
their  lives  to  the  study  of  the  Scriptures,  psalmody, 
prayer  and  good  works.  That  they  might  sing  the 
Psalms  in  the  native  tongue,  they  learned  Hebrew ; 
that  they  might  study  the  Gospels,  they  learned  Greek. 

Among  the  most  illustrious  of  these  women  was 
the  high-born  Paula,  whose  ancestors  were  the  Scipios 
and  the  Gracchi,  and  in  whose  veins  ran  the  blood  of 
the  half-fabulous  rulers  of  Sparta  and  Mycene.  She 
and  her  daughters,  Blesilla,  Paulina,  and  Eustochium, 
and  her  grand-daughter  Paula,  breathe  and  speak  and 
move  in  the  glowing  pages  of  Jerome.  To  Paula's 
daughter,  Eustochium,  is  addressed  the  first  code  of 
Christian  virginity;  to  her  step-daughter,  Loeta,  is 
penned  the  first  treatise  on  the  Christian  education  of 
women. 

Of  the  family  of  Paula,  Jerome  was  at  once  the 
spiritual  guide  and  historian.  Born  in  346,  at  Stridon 
in  Dalmatia,  on  the  southern  slopes  of  the  Illyrian 
Alps,  Jerome  had  studied  at  Rome.  After  his  baptism 
he  had  settled  at  Aquileia,  the  Venice  of  the  fourth 
century,  the  great  seaport  of  the  Adriatic,  a  city 
situated,  as  the  Bordeaux  Itinerary  shows,  on  the 
highway  by  which  pilgrims  travelled  from  the  West 
to  the  Holy  Land.  There  his  enthusiasm  for  study 
and  his  inclination  towards  asceticism  grew  stronger 
and  stronger.  His  two  favourite  texts  were,  "But 
his  delight  is  in  the  law  of  the  Lord ;  and  in  His  law 
will  he  exercise  himself  day  and  night "  (Ps.  i.,  verse  2); 
and,  "  O  that  I  had  wings  like  a  dove  !  for  then  would 
I  flee  away,  and  be  at  rest "  (Ps.  lv.,  verse  6).  Where, 
except  in  solitude,  could  he  gratify  his  longing  or 


JEROME  25 

follow  the  law  of  the  Lord  night  and  day  ?  At  last, 
as  the  Egyptian  anchorites  had  fled  from  the  lusts 
and  anarchy  of  the  world  to  find  rest  in  the  silence 
and  discipline  of  the  desert,  so  Jerome  fled  to  the 
depths  of  the  desert  of  Chalcis.  In  382  he  came  to 
Rome,  emaciated  and  weakened  by  the  austerities 
of  his  life,  but  with  his  fiery  impetuous  spirit  yet 
untamed.  At  Rome,  he  revised  from  the  Septuagint 
the  Latin  version  of  the  Psalms.  There,  too,  he 
became  the  teacher  of  the  devout  ladies  who  assembled 
on  the  Aventine  Mount  at  the  house  of  Marcella. 

In  385  he  left  Rome,  where  he  had  made  many 
friends  and  not  a  few  enemies.  Convinced,  as  he 
says,  that  he  had  tried  in  vain  to  "sing  the  Lord's 
song  in  a  strange  land"  (Ps.  cxxxvii.,  verse  4),  he 
embarked  for  Palestine.  After  him  sailed  Paula, 
heartbroken  at  the  death  of  Blesilla,  and  with  Paula 
went  her  surviving  unmarried  daughter,  Eustochium. 
They  met  Jerome  at  Antioch,  wandered  through 
Palestine,  visited  the  Solitaries  in  the  Nitrian  desert, 
and  finally  settled  at  Bethlehem.  There  were  built  a 
monastery,  of  which  Jerome  became  the  head;  a 
convent,  presided  over  by  Paula;  a  church,  and  a 
hospice  for  pilgrims.  At  Bethlehem  in  his  grotto — his 
paradise,  as  he  calls  it — close  to  the  traditional  site  of 
the  Nativity,  Jerome  laboured  with  persistent  stren- 
uous energy  till  his  death  in  420. 

At  Bethlehem,  in  this  realised  "  City  of  the  Saints," 
Paula  and  Eustochium  lived  and  died.  Their  efforts 
to  induce  Marcella  to  leave  Rome  and  join  them  in 
the  Holy  Land,  had  failed.  In  vain  Jerome  had 
supported  their  appeal  with  a  letter,  which  closes 
with  the  words  of  Psalm  Ixxiii.,  verse  24,  "For  our- 
selves, who  are  here,"  he  says,  "  we  think  it  good  to 


26  EARLY  AGES  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

trust  to  God  for  all,  to  rest  every  hope  on  Him ;  that 
when  we  exchange  the  poverty  of  this  world  for  '  the 
riches  of  Heaven/  we  may  be  able  to  cry  with  David, 
'  Whom  have  I  in  Heaven  but  Thee  ?  and  there  is 
none  upon  earth  that  I  desire  in  comparison  of  Thee/  " 
But  though  Marcella  still  remained  on  the  Aventine 
Mount,  there  gathered  at  Bethlehem  a  community  of 
women,  who  sang  the  Psalter  through  in  their  daily 
services,  and  were  pledged,  among  other  rules,  to 
learn  it  by  heart.  Gradually  the  strength  of  Paula 
failed.  In  403  she  lay  on  her  deathbed.  Her 
daughter,  Eustochium,  watched  over  her  with  the 
tenderest  care,  praying,  while  Paula  slept,  that  she 
might  depart  from  life  before  her  mother.  As  her 
last  moments  approached,  the  watchers  heard  Paula 
murmur  the  words  of  those  Psalms  which  were  seldom 
far  from  her  lips  :  "  Oh  how  amiable  are  thy  dwell- 
ings, Thou  Lord  of  Hosts!"  (Ps.  Ixxxiv.  1);  "Lord 
I  have  loved  the  habitation  of  Thy  house  and  the 
place  where  Thine  honour  dwelleth"  (Ps.  xxvi.  8); 
"  I  had  rather  be  a  doorkeeper  in  the  House  of  my 
God,  than  to  dwell  in  the  tents  of  ungodliness" 
(Ps.  Ixxxiv.,  verse  11).  When  the  last  of  the  verses 
was  ended,  she  began  again  with  the  first.  To  the 
end,  with  closed  eyes,  and  faintly  moving  lips,  she 
continued  to  repeat  them,  and  so  passed  away  on  the 
26th  of  January  404.  Bound  the  body  gathered 
Christian  Palestine.  Monks  and  nuns  from  monas- 
teries or  convents,  hermits  from  their  solitary  cells, 
bishops  from  the  surrounding  dioceses,  the  poor,  the 
widowed,  and  the  orphans,  flocked  to  pay  to  the  dead 
their  last  tribute  of  affection.  Night  and  day,  continu- 
ously for  three  days,  the  Psalms  were  chanted  round 
the  bier  in  Greek  and  Hebrew,  Latin  and  Syriac, 


MARTIN  OF  TOURS  27 

On  the  fourth  day,  Paula  was  buried  in  a  rock-hewn 
grave,  close  to  the  birthplace  of  Our  Lord  and  the 
grotto  where  Jerome  laboured. 

Sixteen  years  later  (420),  died  Jerome  himself. 
In  the  interval  Eustochium  had  died,  but  her  place 
was  taken  by  her  niece,  Paula,  the  grand-daughter 
of  the  elder  Paula.  Legend  has  fastened  on  the 
strange  spiritual  romance,  which  linked  with  Jerome 
three  generations  of  a  noble  Roman  family  as  the 
guardians  of  his  life.  In  the  fancy  of  mediaeval  art, 
the  place  of  the  three  women  is  taken  by  the  lion, 
whose  wounded  paw  was  cured  by  Jerome  in  the 
deserts  of  Chalcis,  and  who  in  gratitude  became  the 
healer's  protector  and  faithful  servant. 

Years  before  the  death  of  Jerome,  Martin  of 
Tours  (316-96),  whose  influence  on  French  history 
has  been  accepted  by  the  most  secular  historians, 
whose  fame  not  only  spread  to  the  most  distant  lands, 
but  is  commemorated  in  scores  of  quaint  legends  in 
provincial  France,  had  founded  a  monastery  in  Gaul. 
The  young  soldier,  who,  at  Amiens  had  divided  his 
cloak  with  a  naked  shivering  beggar,  saw  in  a  dream, 
Christ  Himself  clad  in  the  halved  garment.  Accept- 
ing the  dream  as  a  call  to  religion,  he  was  baptised, 
left  the  army,  and  enlisted  under  St  Hilary,  Bishop 
of  Poitiers,  as  a  soldier  of  the  Cross  of  Christ. 
During  his  friend's  exile,  he  himself  settled  near 
Milan;  but  on  Hilary's  return  to  Gaul,  Martin 
followed.  In  order  to  be  near  the  bishop,  and  also 
in  order  to  preach  on  the  great  Roman  road  from 
Poitiers  to  Saintes,  he  built  the  wooden  hut  at 
Liguge,  on  the  river  Clain,  five  miles  from  Hilary's 
see,  which  is  regarded  as  the  earliest  of  French 
monastic  institutions.  By  a  strange  coincidence, 


28  EARLY  AGES  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

Rabelais,  twelve  centuries  later,  found  refuge  close 
to  the  Abbey  Church  of  Liguge,  the  cradle  of  that 
system  which,  in  its  decadence,  he  keenly  satirised. 
From  Liguge  the  fame  of  Martin  spread  to  Tours, 
whose  inhabitants  were  eager  to  have  him  for  their 
bishop.  Enticed  from  his  monastery  by  a  trick, 
Martin  visited  the  city.  Crowds  had  collected  for 
the  election.  The  vast  majority  favoured  Martin ;  a 
few  led  by  a  bishop,  named  Defensor,  objected  to  the 
meanness  of  his  personal  appearance,  his  unkempt 
hair,  his  squalid  garments.  It  was  by  a  verse  from 
the  Psalms  that  the  election  was  decided.  A  by- 
stander, opening  the  Psalter  at  hazard,  read  the 
verse,  "Out  of  the  mouth  of  very  babes  and  suck- 
lings hast  Thou  ordained  strength,  because  of  Thine 
enemies ;  That  Thou  mightest  still  the  enemy  and 
the  avenger"  (Ps.  viii.,  verse  2).  In  the  version  then 
in  use,  the  words  are,  "Ut  destruas  inimicum  et 
defensorem."  The  words  were  hailed  as  an  omen. 
Defensor  and  his  supporters  were  confounded,  and 
Martin  was  consecrated  Bishop  of  Tours  (372).  Two 
miles  from  the  city  he  founded  his  majus  monas- 
terium,  now  Marmoutier,  which  eclipsed  the  fame  of 
Liguge,  and  became  the  most  celebrated  of  French 
monasteries. 

Thus  in  Africa,  Asia,  and  Europe  a  great  move- 
ment had  begun  which,  every  year,  assumed  larger 
proportions.  In  the  fourth  century,  multitudes  of  men 
and  women,  in  solitary  cells  or  monastic  communities, 
sought  a  retreat  from  a  world  of  conflict,  change  and 
persecution.  That  this  should  have  been  the  case  is 
not  surprising.  The  time  was  one  when  the  Te  Deum 
of  victory  alternated  with  the  Miserere  of  defeat,  when 
the  secular  power  first  accepted  religion  as  its  ally, 


ATHANASIUS  29 

then  endeavoured  to  employ  it  as  a  servant,  and  finally 
acknowledged  it  as  a  master.  Among  the  great 
ecclesiastics  of  the  century  no  names  stand  higher 
than  those  of  Athanasius,  the  impersonation  of  purity 
of  faith;  or  of  Basil,  the  upholder  of  order  and 
discipline  in  the  Church ;  or  of  Ambrose,  the  champion 
of  ecclesiastical  authority.  With  striking  scenes  in 
the  lives  of  each,  the  Psalms  are  inseparably  connected. 

In  October  346,  Athanasius  returned  to  Alex- 
andria from  his  second  exile.  The  people  streamed 
forth  to  meet  him  "like  another  Nile."  Every  point 
of  vantage  was  crowded  with  eager  spectators.  The 
air,  fragrant  with  the  smoke  of  incense,  and  bright 
with  the  blaze  of  bonfires,  rang  with  cheers  and  the 
clapping  of  hands.  Nearly  nine  years  of  peace  followed 
in  the  troubled  life  of  Athanasius.  But  the  interlude 
was  only  the  lull  which  preceded  the  storm.  The 
Emperor  Constantius  was  in  the  hands  of  his  Arian 
courtiers ;  a  great  majority  of  the  Council  of  Milan 
(355)  had  condemned  Athanasius ;  and  it  became  evi- 
dent that  some  violence  would  be  attempted  against 
the  archbishop  in  his  own  city  of  Alexandria.  The 
Psalms  had  been  his  constant  study.  His  Exposition 
of  the  Psalms,  his  Titles  of  the  Psalms,  as  well  as  his 
frequent  allusions  to  them  in  his  writings,  prove  how 
deep  was  their  hold  upon  his  mind.  His  favourite 
Psalm  was  the  72nd.  "Against  all  assaults  upon 
thy  body,"  he  says,  "thine  estate,  thy  soul,  thy  repu- 
tation, against  all  temptations,  tribulations,  plots  and 
slanderous  reports,  say  this  Psalm."  So  now,  in  the 
hour  of  his  own  and  his  people's  danger,  he  turned  to 
a  psalm  for  help. 

At  midnight,  on  Thursday,  February  8th,  356, 
Athanasius  was  holding  a  vigil  in  the  Church  of 


30  EARLY  AGES  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

St  Theonas.  The  building  was  thronged  with  wor- 
shippers preparing  for  the  service  of  the  morrow. 
Suddenly  the  church  was  beset  by  soldiers,  and  the 
clash  of  arms  resounded  in  the  precincts.  "  I  thought 
it  not  right,"  says  Athanasius,  "at  a  time  of  such  dis- 
order, to  leave  my  people.  Eather  I  preferred  to  be 
the  first  to  meet  the  danger."  At  the  extreme  east 
end  of  the  church  was  the  archbishop's  throne.  Sit- 
ting down  upon  it,  Athanasius  ordered  the  deacon  to 
read  Psalm  cxxxvi.,  and  all  the  people  to  respond  with 
"  For  His  mercy  endurethfor  ever"  and  then  to  with- 
draw to  their  homes.  The  act  of  faith  was  hardly 
finished,  when  the  doors  were  forced,  and  the  soldiers 
rushed  in,  discharging  their  arrows,  brandishing  their 
swords  and  spears  in  the  dim  light  of  the  building,  as 
they  crowded  up  the  nave.  "The  clergy  and  the 
people,"  continues  Athanasius,  "  prayed  me  to  escape. 
I  refused  to  move  till  all  were  in  safety.  So  I  stood 
up,  called  for  prayer,  and  bade  the  people  leave. 
Many  had  gone ;  others  were  trying  to  follow,  when 
some  of  the  monks  and  of  the  clergy  came  to  my  throne 
and  carried  me  away.  So  then  I  passed  through  the 
crowd  of  soldiers  unseen,  and  escaped,  giving  thanks 
to  God  that  I  had  not  betrayed  my  people,  but  had 
secured  their  safety  before  I  thought  of  my  own."  But 
Athanasius  only  describes  that  part  of  the  scene 
which  had  passed  before  his  eyes.  In  the  buildings 
that  surrounded  the  church,  there  were  fighting  and 
slaughter.  The  dawn  of  day  revealed  lifeless  bodies, 
and  blood-stained  steps  and  passages ;  and  Alexandria 
mourned  not  only  the  disappearance  of  the  beloved 
archbishop,  but  the  murder  of  many  of  her  citizens. 

Imperial  tyranny  failed  to  subdue  the  spirit  of 
Athanasius,  who  confronted  the  world  in  order  to 


BASIL  31 

assert  the  principle  of  the  eternal  Sonship  of  his 
Redeemer.  Equally  powerless  was  it  against  Basil, 
whose  character  inspired  the  genius  of  Hooker,  and 
extorted  the  admiration  of  Gibbon.  How  great  a 
share  the  singing  of  psalms  held  in  the  life  of  his 
monastic  communities,  has  been  already  shown ;  and 
it  was  in  part  the  awe  that  the  sound  of  chanting  in- 
spired which  saved  him  from  the  violence  of  Valens. 
On  the  feast  of  the  Epiphany,  372,  the  emperor,  sur- 
rounded by  his  guards,  entered  the  chief  church  of 
Cesarea.  At  the  eastern  end  of  the  nave,  behind 
the  altar,  stood  Basil,  supported  by  his  clergy.  Tall, 
erect,  his  clear-cut  features  sharpened  by  his  austeri- 
ties, his  bright  eyes  gleaming  under  his  arched  eye- 
brows, he  faced  the  intruders  with  silent  dignity.  The 
emperor's  presence  was  ignored.  The  service  pro- 
ceeded with  the  order  and  reverence  which  Basil  had 
introduced.  As  the  crowd  of  worshippers,  who  filled 
the  building  "  with  a  sea  of  people,"  continued  to  chant 
the  Psalms  with  an  imposing  volume  of  sound,  the 
weak,  excitable  Valens  almost  fainted  before  the 
impression  which  the  scene  and  sound  created.  The 
mind  of  the  Arian  despot  was  overawed,  his  eyes 
were  dimmed,  his  nerves  shaken,  by  the  manifestation 
of  a  Divine  Kingdom  which  was  entirely  regardless  of 
his  power.  He  abandoned  the  thought  of  violence, 
returned  in  peace,  and,  for  a  time,  Basil  reasserted 
over  him  the  influence  of  his  character. 

Before  the  intrepidity  of  an  Athanasius  and  a  Basil, 
Constantius  and  Valens  had  recoiled.  But  though 
emperors  had  failed  to  subdue  the  spirit  which 
great  ecclesiastics  represented,  they  had  not  acknow- 
ledged the  supremacy  of  religion  in  the  domain  of 
conscience.  That  acknowledgment  was  made  by 


32  EARLY  AGES  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

Theodosius  in  the  Cathedral  of  Milan,  and  in  the 
words  of  a  psalm  his  confession  was  clothed. 

In  390,  a  well-known  and  popular  charioteer  had 
been  imprisoned  by  the  Gothic  governor  of  Thessa- 
lonica.  The  populace,  careless  whether  the  sentence 
was  just  or  unjust,  clamoured  for  the  release  of  their 
favourite.  Their  demand  was  refused,  and  a  tumult 
arose,  in  which  the  governor  and  several  of  the  magis- 
trates were  killed.  Theodosius  was  determined  that 
the  punishment  of  the  Thessalonians  should  be  signal. 
The  secret  was  well  kept.  The  officials  of  the  city 
summoned  the  inhabitants  to  the  circus,  as  though 
they  were  to  witness  an  ordinary  spectacle ;  but,  as 
soon  as  they  were  assembled  in  the  arena,  armed 
soldiers  surrounded  the  place,  and  put  to  the  sword 
every  living  being,  man,  woman,  or  child,  who  fell 
into  their  hands.  In  the  massacre,  seven  thousand 
persons  are  said  to  have  perished. 

Horrified  at  the  news,  Ambrose,  Bishop  of  Milan, 
wrote  to  the  Emperor  Theodosius,  urging  him  to  throw 
himself  as  a  penitent  on  the  mercy  of  God.  "  Sin,"  he 
pleaded,  "  is  effaced  neither  by  tears  nor  by  penitence  : 
neither  angel  nor  archangel  can  remove  its  stain ;  God, 
and  God  only,  can  take  away  sin.  You  have  imitated 
David  in  your  crime ;  imitate  him  also  in  your  repent- 
ance." For  eight  months  Theodosius  refused,  and  for 
eight  months  he  was  interdicted  from  the  consolations 
of  religion.  At  last  he  yielded.  Conscience  conquered 
pride,  and  he  submitted  to  receive  his  sentence  and  his 
pardon  from  the  Church.  Prostrate  on  the  floor  of  the 
Cathedral  of  Milan,  with  tears  and  lamentations,  the 
emperor  prayed  in  the  words  of  the  psalm  (Ps.  cxix., 
verse  25),  u  My  soul  cleaveth  to  the  dust ;  O  quicken 
Thou  me,  according  to  Thy  word."  The  spiritual 


AMBROSE  33 

victory  was  complete,  and  its  effect  on  the  popular 
mind  was  deep  and  lasting.  The  new  relations  be- 
tween the  Church  and  the  Empire  were  summed  up  by 
Ambrose  in  the  trenchant  phrase,  "  The  Church  is  not 
in  the  Empire,  but  the  Emperor  is  in  the  Church."  The 
words  were  used  of  the  religious  sphere ;  but  they 
might  have  been  the  text,  on  which  the  political  and 
spiritual  despots  of  the  Middle  Ages  were  the  bold 
commentators,  and  to  which  the  actions  of  a  Gregory 
VII.  or  an  Innocent  III.  form  only  the  exaggerated 
conclusions. 

In  the  sphere  of  human  action,  the  power  of  the 
Psalms  was  great ;  but  in  the  domain  of  thought,  it 
would  be  probably  found,  if  evidence  could  be  traced, 
fchat  their  sway  was  equally  universal.  Take,  for 
example,  such  a  religious  autobiography  as  the  Confes- 
sions of  St  Aitgustine,  and  through  the  first  nine  books, 
which  end  with  the  death  of  Monica,  follow  the  influence 
Df  the  Psalms.  From  the  beginning  of  the  Confessions, 
Dpening,  as  they  do,  with  the  quotations,  "Great  is 
:he  Lord,  and  marvellous ;  worthy  to  be  praised." 
u Great  is  our  Lord,  and  great  is  His  power;  yea, 
md  His  wisdom  is  infinite "  (Ps.  cxlv.,  verse  3,  and 
3xlvii.,  verse  5),  down  to  the  "Prayer  for  his  dead 
nother,"  with  which  the  ninth  book  closes,  there 
s  scarcely  a  page  without  a  reference  to  the  same 
source. 

"With  my  mother's  milk,"  so  says  Augustine  of 
limself,  "I  sucked  in  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ." 
Through  all  the  wild  excesses  of  his  youth,  the 
imbitions  and  intellectual  wanderings  of  after  life, 
;he  religious  impressions  of  infancy  remain  distinct. 
His  soul  "longed  after  God";  it  was  "athirst"  for 
Him.  He  never  lost  that  passionate  desire  to  know 

c 


34  EARLY  AGES  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

the  living  God,  which  bursts  from  his  lips  in  the 
opening  passage  of  the  Confessions :  "  Thou  madest 
man  for  Thyself,  and  the  heart  knows  no  repose  till 
it  rests  in  Thee." 

Ever  craving  for  something  ideal  and  enduring, 
haunted  by  the  solitude  of  his  own  mind,  he  obeyed 
the  wild  impulses  of  youth,  pursued  delights  that 
appealed  to  his  artistic  or  sensuous  nature,  sought 
distractions  in  objects  pleasing  to  the  eye,  in  games, 
theatres,  or  music,  or  in  the  indulgence  of  animal 
passion.  Yet,  tortured  by  reproaches  of  conscience, 
he  reaped  no  harvest  of  repose ;  he  only  gleaned  self- 
loathing.  Ambitious  of  worldly  fame,  he  pursued 
with  eagerness  his  studies  of  literature,  of  rhetoric,  of 
the  sciences.  Still  restless,  he  turned  to  higher  and 
better  things.  The  Hortensius  of  Cicero  inflamed  him 
with  a  passion  for  wisdom,  "for  Wisdom  alone,  as 
she  might  reveal  herself."  Yet,  even  under  the  mastery 
of  this  longing,  he  "  turned  to  flee  back  from  the  things 
of  earth  to  God." 

In  his  eager  quest  for  wisdom  and  truth,  he 
sought  them  among  the  Manichees,  who  claimed  the 
possession  of  rational  knowledge,  and  derided  the 
Christians  for  their  blind  belief.  For  nine  years 
Augustine  wandered  in  the  mazes  of  their  specula- 
tions, his  intellect  subdued  by  their  subtleties,  his 
imagination  charmed  by  their  symbolical  interpreta- 
tions of  nature.  Here,  too,  he  found  no  abiding 
happiness;  his  faith  in  their  system  was  gradually 
undermined.  When,  in  384  A.D.,  he  came  to  Milan 
as  a  teacher  of  rhetoric,  he  came  embittered  by  a 
sense  of  deception,  inclined  to  general  scepticism,  yet 
still  asking  of  his  soul  the  reason  of  its  sadness  and 
disquietude. 


AUGUSTINE'S  CONFESSIONS  35 

At  Milan,  Augustine  fell  under  the  influence  of 
Ambrose.  He  loved  the  man,  was  charmed  by  his 
eloquence,  and  through  his  preaching  learned  to  study 
the  Old  Testament.  He  was  standing  at  the  gate  of 
the  sanctuary ;  but  a  hard  struggle  was  to  be  faced 
before  he  crossed  the  threshold.  His  mother  Monica 
was  now  at  his  side.  She  had  crossed  the  sea  from 
Carthage  to  be  with  her  beloved  son,  and  her  prayer- 
ful confidence  in  his  ultimate  triumph  over  doubt 
could  not  fail  to  influence  his  mind.  Slowly  the  con- 
viction came  to  him  that  the  peace  of  God  was  not 
to  be  won  by  the  mind  alone.  The  lofty  idealism  of 
Plato  turned  his  thoughts  upward  and  inward ;  but 
it  brought  him  no  moral  strength  to  raise  himself  from 
the  earth.  Then  he  gave  himself  to  the  study  of  the 
Bible,  and  especially  to  the  study  of  St  Paul's  Epistles. 
Here  he  learned  the  source  of  that  power  which 
enables  men  to  embody  high  ideals  in  daily  practice. 
In  the  pages  of  the  Platonic  writers  he  finds,  as  he 
says,  no  trace  of  the  "humble  and  contrite  heart," 
no  "sacrifice  of  the  broken  spirit"  (Ps.  li.  17). 
No  one  sings  there,  "Truly  my  soul  waiteth  upon 
God ;  from  Him  cometh  my  salvation :  He  only  is 
my  rock  and  my  salvation ;  He  is  my  strong  tower ; 
I  shall  not  be  greatly  moved  "  (Ps.  Ixii.,  verses  1,  2). 
"It  is  one  thing,"  he  continues,  "to  see  afar  off,  from 
some  tree-clad  height,  the  fatherland  of  peace,  yet  to 
find  no  path  thither,  and,  struggling  vainly  towards  it, 
to  wander  this  way  and  that  among  wilds  beset  by 
the  ambushments  of  lurking  runagates,  with  their 
prince,  the  lion  and  the  dragon  (Ps.  xci.,  verse  13). 
It  is  another  thing  to  tread  securely  on  a  highroad 
that  leads  directly  thither,  built  by  the  hand  of  the 
Heavenly  Emperor,  whereon  no  deserters  from  the 


36  EARLY  AGES  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

celestial  host  lie  in  wait  to  rob  the  traveller,  for  they 
shun  it  as  a  torment." 

His  struggle  grew  in  intensity  till  it  became  an 
agony.  The  flesh  lusted  against  the  spirit ;  the  law 
in  his  members  warred  against  the  law  of  his  mind, 
and  held  him  captive.  But  the  supreme  crisis  was 
not  far  distant.  It  came  in  September  386,  in  the 
thirty-third  year  of  his  age.  He  had  thrown  himself 
down  in  a  retired  corner  of  his  garden  at  Milan,  and 
there,  under  the  shade  of  a  fig-tree,  poured  out  a 
flood  of  tears.  "  How  long,  O  Lord,  how  long  ? "  he 
cried.  "How  long  wilt  Thou  be  angry?  Oh  re- 
member not  our  old  sins ! "  (Ps.  Ixxix.,  verses  5,  8). 
As  he  prayed,  he  seemed  to  hear  the  voice  of  some 
boy  or  girl,  which  he  knew  not,  repeating  in  a  kind 
of  chant,  the  words,  Tolle,  lege !  Tolle,  lege !  "  Take 
and  read!  take  and  read!"  "I  checked,"  he  says, 
"  the  torrent  of  my  tears,  and  raised  myself  to  my  feet, 
for  I  received  the  words  as  nothing  less  than  a  Divine 
command  to  open  the  Bible,  and  read  the  first  passage 
on  which  my  eyes  lighted."  Was  not  Antony,  of  whose 
life  he  had  recently  heard,  converted  by  a  similar 
oracle  of  God  ?  Running  to  the  spot  where  he  had 
left  his  Bible,  he  snatched  it  up,  opened  its  pages, 
and  read  the  words :  "  Not  in  rioting  and  drunken- 
ness, not  in  chambering  and  wantonness,  not  in  strife 
and  envying.  But  put  ye  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
and  make  not  provision  for  the  flesh  to  fulfil  the  lusts 
thereof."  The  shadows  of  doubt  were  dispersed ;  the 
light  of  peace  irradiated  his  heart;  as  he  finished 
the  sentence,  he  had  neither  desire  nor  need  to  read 
further. 

The  passage,  as  he  read  it  in  the  ascetic  spirit  of 
the  age,  told  him  not  only  to  renounce  his  wild  life, 


AUGUSTINE'S  CONFESSIONS  37 

but  to  forego  his  marriage,  abandon  the  pursuits  and 
honours  of  the  world,  and  dedicate  himself  wholly  to 
the  service  of  Christ.  The  vintage  holidays  were  at 
hand.  As  soon  as  they  began,  he  resigned  his  office  as 
a  teacher  of  rhetoric,  and  withdrew  to  the  hills  above 
Milan  to  prepare  for  baptism.  There  he  read  and 
re-read  the  Psalms,  spending  half  the  night  in  their 
study,  and  finding  in  their  words  the  expression  of 
his  own  deepest  feelings — the  sad  lament  of  penitence 
rising  into  the  triumphant  song  of  praise  for  the  infinite 
mercy  of  God.  "How,  O  God,"  he  says,  "did  I  cry 
unto  Thee,  as  I  read  the  Psalms  of  David,  those  hymns 
of  faith  and  songs  of  devotion,  which  fill  the  heart 
against  all  swellings  of  pride.  I  was  still  but  a  novice 
in  Thy  true  love,  a  beginner,  keeping  holiday  in  a 
country  place  with  Alypius,  like  myself  a  catechumen, 
and  with  my  mother — in  garb  indeed  a  woman,  but  in 
faith  a  man,  in  the  tranquillity  of  age,  full  of  a  mother's 
love  and  Christian  devotion !  How  did  I  cry  unto 
Thee  in  these  Psalms  !  How  did  they  kindle  my  heart 
towards  Thee  !  How  did  I  burn  to  rehearse  them  all 
over  the  world,  if  so  I  might  abate  the  pride  of  man ! " 
It  was  especially  the  4th  Psalm  that  worked 
upon  his  mind :  "  When  I  called  upon  Thee,  Thou 
didst  hear  me,  O  God  of  my  righteousness  :  Thou  hast 
set  me  at  liberty  when  I  was  in  trouble  ;  have  mercy 
upon  me,  and  hearken  unto  my  prayer  "  (verse  1 ).  As  he 
read  it,  he  mourned  over  the  Manichees,  pitying  their 
blind  rejection  of  the  antidote  which  might  have  cured 
their  madness  ; — "  Would  they  could  have  heard,  with- 
out my  knowing  that  they  heard,  lest  they  should  have 
thought  it  was  on  their  account  I  spoke,  what  I  cried 
as  I  read  these  words !  In  truth  I  could  not  so  have 
cried,  had  I  felt  that  they  were  watching.  Nor,  indeed, 


38  EARLY  AGES  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

if  I  had  used  the  very  same  words,  could  they  have 
meant  to  them  what  they  have  meant  to  me,  as  they 
poured  from  my  heart  in  that  soliloquy  which  fell  on 
Thine  ears  alone.  For  I  trembled  with  fear,  and  I 
glowed  with  hope  and  great  joy  in  Thy  mercy,  O  my 
Father.  Yea,  joy  and  hope  and  fear  shone  in  my 
eyes  and  thrilled  in  my  voice,  while  Tiiy  good  Spirit 
turned  to  us,  and  said,  '  O  ye  sons  of  men,  how  long 
will  ye  blaspheme  Mine  honour ;  and  have  such  plea- 
sure in  vanity,  and  seek  after  leasing?'"  (Ps.  iv., 
verse  2). 

On  Easter  Sunday,  April  24th,  387,  Augustine  was 
baptised  by  Ambrose  at  Milan,  and  at  his  baptism 
the  43rd  Psalm  was  sung.  Throughout  his  subsequent 
career  his  lifelong  study  of  the  Psalms  may  be  traced. 
It  is  proved  by  his  two  commentaries  on  the  book ;  by 
his  vision  of  Ps.  cxix.,  rising  like  a  Tree  of  Life  in 
Paradise ;  by  the  inscription  of  Ps.  xxxii.  above  his 
bed,  that  his  eyes  might  rest  upon  the  words  at  the 
moment  of  waking ;  by  the  closing  scene  of  his  life  in 
the  bare  room  within  the  walls  of  beleaguered  Hippo. 
As  Gregory  Nazianzen  began  his  Apologia  against 
the  Emperor  Julian  with  a  quotation  from  Ps.  xlix.; 
as  Ambrose  was  moved  to  write  his  treatise  on  the 
Duties  of  the  Clergy,  by  the  patience,  simplicity,  and 
contempt  for  riches  which  marked  Ps.  xxxix. ;  so 
Augustine  chose  for  the  motto  of  his  work  on  "  The 
City  of  God,"  the  words,  "  Very  excellent  things  are 
spoken  of  Thee,  thou  City  of  God"  (Ps.  Ixxxvii., 
verse  2).  That  noble  treatise  (413-26),  written,  as 
it  were,  in  the  glare  of  burning  Kome,  expresses 
with  glowing  eloquence,  his  sense  of  the  eternal 
destinies  of  the  City  of  God.  The  same  intense  con- 
viction of  everlasting  endurance  amid  decay,  speaks 


ETERNITY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  GOD  39 

in  the  inscription — "  Thy  Kingdom  is  an  everlasting 
Kingdom  "  (Ps.  cxlv.,  verse  13) — which  is  written  in 
Greek  characters,  unobliterated  by  time  or  enemies, 
above  the  portal  of  the  church  at  Damascus,  once  a 
Christian  cathedral,  but  now,  for  twelve  centuries,  a 
Mahomedan  mosque.  It  is  again  the  same  conviction, 
that  God's  City,  in  the  midst  of  an  ephemeral  world, 
stands  firm  for  ever,  which  dictates  the  inscription  in 
the  Cathedral  of  Saint  Sophia  at  Kieff,  the  oldest 
church  in  Russia,  built  by  Yaroslaf  in  1037.  On  the 
mosaics  behind  the  altar  is  a  colossal  figure  of  the 
Virgin,  bearing  the  inscription,  "  God  is  in  the  midst 
of  her,  therefore  shall  she  not  be  removed  "  (Ps.  xlvi., 
verse  5) 


CHAPTEK  III 

THE   FORMATION   OF  NATIONS 

The  invasions  of  the  barbarians ;  supremacy  oi  moral  power  over 
brute  force ;  Totila  and  Benedict :  the  Rule  of  Benedict ; 
monastic  missionaries  .  translation  of  the  Psalms  into  Sclavonic  ; 
the  Psalms  in  the  lives  of  Columban,  Gall,  Patrick,  Columba, 
Cuthbert;  Irish  and  British  Christianity— Battle  of  Mold, 
Kentigern,  Bangor  ;  Roman  Christianity — The  island  of  Death 
and  Silence  ;  Gregory  the  Great;  coming  of  Augustine  intro- 
duction of  Benedictine  Rule  ;  its  foundation  on  the  Psalms ; 
its  establishment  in  England  —  Benedict  Biscop,  Wilfrid, 
Neot,  Dunstan ;  universality  of  the  Rule. 

MEN  needed  all  their  faith  in  the  eternity  of  "the 
City  of  God  "  during  the  successive  invasions  which, 
in  the  fifth  and  sixth  centuries,  swept  over  Europe. 
The  siege  and  capture  of  Rome  (410)  by  Alaric  and 
his  Arian  Visigoths,  thrilled  the  civilised  world  with 
consternation.  The  news,  as  has  been  noted,  stirred 
Augustine  to  write  his  De  Civitate  Dei,  with  a  psalm 
for  his  motto.  Jerome,  in  his  cave  at  Bethlehem, 
wrestling  with  the  difficulties  of  the  Prophet  Ezekiel, 
found  in  a  psalm  the  best  expression  for  a  horror 
which,  as  he  said,  made  him  forget  his  own  name : 
"  O  God,  the  heathen  are  come  into  Thy  inheritance ; 
Thy  holy  temple  have  they  defiled,  and  made  Jerusalem 
an  heap  of  stones"  (Ps.  Ixxix.).  In  rude  contrast  to 
the  solemnity  of  this  universal  lamentation  was  the 

40 


ALARIC  AND  ATTILA  41 

sensation  of  relief  which,  according  to  the  popular 
story,  the  event  produced  upon  the  Emperor  Honorius. 
"Rome  has  perished  !"  cried  the  panic-stricken  mes- 
senger, as  he  hurried  into  the  emperor's  presence. 
"  Rome  perished ! "  replied  the  imperial  poultry- 
fancier,  who  had  a  favourite  hen  called  "Rome"; 
"  impossible !  an  hour  ago  she  was  feeding  from  my 
hand."  It  was  explained  that  it  was  the  City  of 
Rome  which  had  been  destroyed.  "  But  I  thought," 
said  the  relieved  emperor,  "you  meant  that  it  was 
my  bird,  Rome,  which  I  had  lost." 

Alaric  and  his  Arian  followers  spared  Christian 
churches  and  those  who  had  found  refuge  within  their 
walls.  But  what  shelter  was  there  from  the  savage 
glance  of  Attila's  small  bead-like  eyes,  as  his  squalid 
Pannonian  hordes  swept  over  Europe  (441-51),  leaving 
in  their  track  a  blackened  and  desolated  waste  ?  A 
panic-stricken  world  saw  that  the  weapons  of  the 
Christian  faith  alone  availed  against  the  hosts  of  evil. 
Priests  were  not  indeed  always  spared.  Nicasius, 
eleventh  Bishop  of  Rheims,  was  cut  down  by  a  Vandal 
in  407,  as  he  stood  on  the  threshold  of  the  church, 
chanting  the  words,  "  Quicken  Thou  me  according  to 
Thy  word  "  (Ps.  cxix.,  verse  25).  Paris  may  have  owed 
security  to  insignificance  rather  than  to  the  prayers 
of  St  Genevieve.  But  there  is  better  evidence  to  prove 
that  Orleans  was  saved  by  St  Aignan,  Troyes  by  St 
Loup,  and  Rome  by  St  Leo.  Divine  interpositions 
on  behalf  of  the  Church  and  her  saints  were  magnified 
by  the  legends  which  clustered  round  the  name  of 
Attila,  the  Flagellum  Dei  of  theologians,  the  "  Etzel " 
of  the  Niebelungen  Lied.  The  inroads  of  the  Huns 
stimulated  the  spread  of  Christianity,  for  the  bar- 
barian was  awed  by  the  priest  alone,  and  the  instru- 


42  THE  FORMATION  OF  NATIONS 

ments  of  God's  wrath  trembled  only  before  the  agents 
of  His  mercy.  It  was  then  that  Paganism  lost  its 
hold  on  the  Imperial  City,  when  Pope  Leo  refuted  the 
plea  that  Eome  owed  her  downfall  to  desertion  of  her 
ancient  gods.  It  was  then  also,  that  the  foundations 
of  the  Papal  Empire  were  firmly  laid,  when  the  suc- 
cessor of  Peter  triumphed  where  the  successor  of 
Caesar  had  ignominiously  failed. 

But  among  the  barbarians  and  the  native  races, 
the  sense  of  awe  in  the  presence  of  the  supernatural 
was  thus  deepened  by  the  events  of  the  invasion. 
Living  examples  of  Christian  charity,  like  Deo  Gratias, 
Bishop  of  Carthage,  or  Cesarius,  Bishop  of  Aries,  who 
spent  their  substance  in  the  redemption  of  captives, 
passed  the  comprehension,  yet  commanded  the  respect, 
of  the  invaders.  Trusted  mediators,  like  Epiphanius, 
Bishop  of  Pavia,  won  their  confidence.  An  Odoacer 
bowed  before  the  spiritual  insight  of  Severinus  of 
Noricum,  the  mysterious  prophet  and  apostle  of 
Austria.  A  Totila — as  the  story  is  told  in  Spinello's 
frescoes  in  San  Miniato  at  Florence — paid  homage  to 
the  saintly  character  of  Benedict  of  Nursia ;  and  the 
spell  which  the  Patriarch  of  Western  Monasticism 
cast  over  the  all-conquering  king  testifies,  with  silent 
eloquence,  to  the  supremacy  of  moral  power  over 
brute  force,  and  strikes  the  prelude  to  the  illustrious 
life  of  the  Benedictine  Order 

Driven  from  the  wild  gorges  of  Subiaco  by  the 
evil  devices  of  his  enemies,  Benedict  found  a  retreat 
at  Monte  Cassino.  There  he  established  among  a 
pagan  people  the  capital  of  the  monastic  order.  The 
temple  of  Apollo  was  overthrown ;  the  sacred  wood 
was  felled,  and  the  faith  of  Christ  preached  to  a  people 
who,  two  centuries  after  Constantine,  and  in  the  heart 


BENEDICT  43 

of  Christendom,  still  worshipped  the  gods  of  ancient 
Rome.  Dante  has  told  the  story  ("Paradiso," 
canto  xxii.): 

"In  old  days, 

That  mountain,  at  whose  side  Cassino  rests, 
Was,  on  its  height,  frequented  by  a  race 
Deceived  and  ill-disposed ;  and  I  it  was 
Who  thither  carried  first  the  name  of  Him 
Who  brought  the  soul-subliming  truth  to  man, 
And  such  a  speeding  grace  shone  over  me, 
That  from  their  impious  worship  I  reclaimed 
The  dwellers  round  about,  who  with  the  world 
Were  in  delusion  lost." 

"From  the  heart  of  the  Benedict,  as  from  a  fountain- 
head  of  Paradise,"  flowed  the  monastic  life  of  the 
West.  Monte  Cassino  was,  as  it  were,  its  Sinai. 
From  it  issued  the  famous  Rule  of  St  Benedict  (528), 
the  code  under  which  lived  the  vast  majority  of  those 
who  embraced  the  monastic  discipline  of  labour  and 
obedience. 

Shortly  before  his  death,  the  great  monastic  law- 
giver saw  in  a  vision,  as  Pope  Gregory  relates,  the 
whole  world  gathered  together  under  one  beam  of  the 
sun.  Five  centuries  later,  it  would  be  true  to  say  that 
the  vision  was  realised  in  the  obedience  of  the  mon- 
astic world  to  the  Rule  of  Benedict.  But  for  the 
moment,  no  uniformity  existed.  Here,  as  in  Southern 
Italy,  prevailed  the  Eastern  Rule  of  Basil ;  here,  as 
at  Lerins,  the  Egyptian  Rule  of  Antony  or  of  Macarius  ; 
here,  as  in  Spain,  the  Rule  of  Isidore.  Gradually  the 
continent  was  covered  with  monastic  missionaries, 
who  carried  Christianity  among  the  pagan  provincials 
or  heathen  barbarians,  bridged  the  gap  between  the 
old  civilisation  and  the  new,  and,  in  countries  devas- 
tated by  wars  and  rapine,  practised  the  arts  of  peace 


44  THE  FORMATION  OF  NATIONS 

under  the  sanction  of  religion.  In  sfcch  missionary 
enterprises  the  Celtic  saints  were  nobly  distinguished. 
Now,  in  the  spirit  of  Antony  and  the  anchorites  of 
the  Egyptian  deserts,  the  storm-beaten  islands  of  the 
Atlantic  Ocean  were  tenanted  by  eager  solitaries,  who, 
by  day  and  night,  from  year's  end  to  year's  end,  amid 
the  roar  of  the  waves  and  the  wild  screams  of  seabirds, 
sang  the  Psalms  to  God.  Now,  in  another  aspect  of 
the  same  religious  fervour,  men  left  their  wattled 
chapels,  their  stone  oratories,  and  wooden  shrines  in 
Ireland  and  Scotland,  to  carry  the  Gospel  message  to 
the  heathen.  Columban  at  Luxeuil  and  Bobbio,  Gall 
in  Switzerland,  Cataldus  at  Tarentum,  Virgilius  at 
Salzburg,  Donatus  at  Fiesole,  were  among  the  Celtic 
saints  who  made  their  influence  felt  in  Western  Europe 
from  Iceland  to  Southern  Italy. 

It  was  by  a  text  from  the  Psalms  that  the  first 
translation  of  the  Scriptures  into  a  language  "  under- 
standed  of  the  people  "  was  sanctioned  by  orthodox 
Christianity.  Methodius  and  Cyril  desired  to  con- 
struct an  alphabet,  and  to  translate  portions  of  the 
Bible  into  the  Sclavonic  tongue.  Their  request  was 
referred  to  Pope  John  VIII.  in  879,  and  it  was 
justified  in  his  eyes  by  the  words,  "Let  everything 
that  hath  breath  praise  the  Lord "  (Ps.  cl.,  verse  6). 
In  the  Sclavonic  language,  and  in  the  rude  alphabet, 
which  still  witnesses  to  the  Byzantine  origin  of  the 
Eussian  religion  and  literature,  the  whole  of  the  New 
Testament  was  translated.  From  the  Old  Testament 
the  Book  of  Psalms  alone  was  selected.  No  one  can 
doubt  the  meaning  of  the  choice,  or  that  it  was  wisely 
made.  For  missions,  especially  to  pagan  peoples,  no 
book  is  better  adapted.  In  the  first  place,  Nature  is 
treated  in  its  unity  rather  than  in  its  detail ;  it  is 


USE  BY  MISSIONARIES  45 

contemplated  in  great  masses :  it  is  painted  not  as 
self -subsisting  or  glorious  in  its  own  beauty,  but  as 
the  living  expression  of  the  one  God,  the  embodi- 
ment of  one  overruling  spiritual  power.  No  book, 
again,  appeals  so  strongly  to  the  simple  elemental 
feelings,  the  universal  eternal  emotions  of  mankind ; 
no  book  relies  less  upon  the  special  forms  of  human 
opinion  to  which  different  ages  and  varying  circum- 
stances have  given  their  transitory  mould.  No  book, 
again,  is  so  calculated  to  encourage  that  sense  of  awe 
before  the  Divine  invisible  omnipresence  which  gives 
its  sanction  to  the  voice  of  conscience.  In  the  poetry 
of  Homer,  the  Deities  of  Olympus  in  three  paces 
traverse  the  uttermost  bounds  of  the  earth ;  and 
to  this  material  omnipresence  Plato  added  moral 
grandeur  by  his  conception  of  the  ubiquitous  super- 
vision of  Divine  Providence.  But  the  splendour  of 
the  thought,  as  imagined  by  the  Greek  poet  or  phil- 
osopher, is  only  a  pale  reflection  of  the  sublimity  of 
bhe  idea  as  it  is  represented  by  the  Hebrew  Psalmist. 
In  Psalm  cxxxix.  the  beautiful  blossom  bursts  into 
:he  full  glory  of  the  flower.  On  its  language  is 
modelled  one  of  the  earliest  fragments  of  missionary 
teaching :  "  O  Lord,  my  thoughts,"  it  runs,  "  cannot 
3lude  Thy  thoughts ;  Thou  knowest  all  the  ways  by 
which  I  would  escape.  If  I  climb  up  into  heaven, 
Thou  dwellest  there ;  if  I  go  down  to  hell,  there  also 
[  find  Thy  presence.  If  I  bury  myself  in  the  dark- 
aess,  Thou  findest  me  there.  I  know  that  Thy  night 
3an  be  made  clear  as  my  day.  In  the  morning  I 
,ake  flight ;  I  flee  to  the  ends  of  the  sea ;  but  there  is 
10  place  in  which  Thy  hand  reaches  me  not,"  etc. 
The  sentiment  is  that  which  prompted  Linnaeus,  the 
Swedish  naturalist,  to  inscribe  over  the  door  of  his 


46  THE  FORMATION  OF  NATIONS 

lecture-room,  "  Innocui  vivite  :  Nnmen  adest."  It  is 
the  same  also  which,  in  an  utilitarian,  prosaic  age,  is 
coldly  paraphrased  in  Thomson's  "  Hymn  " : 

"  Should  fate  command  me  to  the  farthest  verge 
Of  the  green  earth,  to  distant  barbarous  climes, 
Rivers  unknown  to  song,  .  .  .  'tis  nought  to  me  ; 
Since  God  is  ever  present,  ever  felt, 
In  the  void  waste  as  in  the  city  full." 

To  learn  the  Psalter  by  heart  was,  in  monastic 
life,  the  first  duty  of  a  novice.  Among  the  secular 
clergy,  knowledge  of  the  Psalter  was  the  threshold  to 
preferment.  A  council  of  the  Church  and  the  capitu- 
laries of  an  emperor,  provided  that  no  one  should  be 
raised  to  any  ecclesiastical  dignity  who  could  not 
recite  the  whole  book.  By  the  Psalms  were  sustained 
the  lives  and  deaths  of  the  men  whose  spiritual  daring 
converted  Europe  to  Christianity.  Above  the  mists 
of  legend,  through  the  pictured  veil  of  romance,  one 
fact  shines  out  with  penetrating,  steadfast  light.  It 
is  the  strength  that,  in  solitude  or  danger,  missionary 
and  monk,  secular  priest  and  anchorite,  derived  from 
the  Psalms  of  David.  The  words  lived  in  his  mind ; 
they  were  ever  on  his  lip ;  in  them,  his  thoughts  were 
unconsciously  clothed ;  in  them,  his  cry  for  help  was 
naturally  expressed.  Take,  for  example,  the  stories, 
legend  or  truth,  of  two  great  continental  missionaries, 
the  Celtic  saints  Columban  and  Gall. 

Like  Francis  of  Assisi,  Columban  wielded  a 
magnetic  power  over  wild  creatures.  At  his  call 
squirrels  leaped  from  the  trees  to  nestle  in  his  bosom, 
or  chase  each  other  in  the  folds  of  his  white  scapular ; 
birds,  as  he  knelt  in  prayer,  fluttered  round  him  and 
perched  on  his  uplifted  hands,  or  on  his  Bible  as  it 
hung  by  a  strap  from  his  shoulder;  to  him  a  bear 


COLUMBAN  AND  GALL  47 

gave  up  its  cave  for  a  retreat ;  a  raven  confessed  its 
crime,  and  restored  his  stolen  gloves.  With  a  psalm, 
he  and  his  colleague,  Gall,  the  apostle  of  Switzerland, 
exorcised  the  demons  of  Bregenz.  There  the  two 
Irish  missionaries  had  established  (circa  610)  a  little 
colony  of  Christians,  living  by  the  labours  of  their 
hands.  The  Lake  of  Constance  swarmed  with  fish, 
and  Columban  made  the  nets,  which  Gall  cast 
into  the  waters  for  a  draught.  One  night,  as  Gall 
watched  silently  in  his  boat  among  his  nets,  he  heard 
the  demon  of  the  mountains  calling  aloud  to  the  demon 
of  the  waters : 

"Arise!"  he  cried,  "help  to  chase  away  the 
strangers  who  have  driven  me  from  my  temples.  It 
will  need  our  united  strength  to  thrust  them  forth." 

"What  can  we  do?"  asked  the  demon  of  the 
waters.  "Here  is  one  upon  the  water-side,  whose 
nets  I  have  tried  to  break  ;  yet  have  I  never  succeeded. 
He  prays  always,  and  never  sleeps.  Our  labour  will 
be  but  lost.  We  shall  avail  nothing  against  him." 

Then  Gall  made  the  sign  of  the  Cross,  and,  hurry- 
ing to  land,  roused  Columban,  who  straightway  tolled 
the  bell  for  midnight  prayers.  Before  the  first  psalm 
was  sung  through,  the  yells  of  the  baffled  demons 
echoed  in  fury  from  the  surrounding  hills,  grew  faint 
in  the  distance,  and  died  away  among  the  mountains 
like  the  confused  sounds  of  a  routed  host. 

Another  incident  in  the  life  of  Gall  serves  to  con- 
nect with  the  Psalms  the  choice  of  the  site  of  one  of 
the  most  famous  monasteries.  Columban  had  left 
Bregenz  (612),  and  Gall  determined  to  seek  another 
home  from  which  to  preach  the  Gospel.  As  he 
wandered  through  a  forest,  he  came  to  a  spot  where 
the  little  river  Steinach,  falling  from  the  mountain, 


48  THE  FORMATION  OF  NATIONS 

hollows  itself  a  bed  in  the  rock.  Here  Gall,  stum- 
bling over  a  bramble,  fell.  His  comrades  strove  to 
raise  him ;  but  he  bade  them  leave  him,  for  "  This," 
he  cried,  "  shall  be  my  rest :  here  will  I  dwell,  for  I 
have  a  delight  therein"  (Ps.  cxxxii.,  verse  15).  So 
was  founded  the  great  monastery  of  St  Gall,  renowned 
for  its  library,  its  learning,  and  its  cultivation  of  the 
arts. 

Coming  nearer  home,  we  find  in  the  legendary 
history  of  St  Patrick  a  noble  use  of  the  verse,  "  Some 
put  their  trust  in  chariots,  and  some  in  horses ;  but 
we  will  remember  the  Name  of  the  Lord  our  God " 
(Ps.  xx.,  verse  7).  Every  third  year,  at  the  spring 
equinox,  which  closed  the  Celtic  year,  the  festival  of 
Tara  was  held  on  the  great  plain  of  Breg.  Here  were 
gathered  the  five  kings  of  Ireland,  the  twenty-five 
tutelary  kings,  their  attendants,  their  warriors,  and 
their  chariots.  In  nine  triple  circles,  as  night  fell, 
they  took  their  places  round  the  huge  flower-strewn 
pyre,  which  rose  on  the  terrace  of  the  palace  of 
Tara.  Throughout  all  Ireland,  every  hearth  was 
cold.  The  people  waited  to  rekindle  their  fires  from 
the  sacred  flame  which  descended  from  heaven  upon 
the  pyre. 

Suddenly,  as  the  vast  throng  was  hushed  in  anxious 
expectation,  a  bright  light  shone  out  on  the  extreme 
verge  of  the  plain.  "Who,"  cried  King  Laeghaire, 
in  his  rage,  "has  dared  to  commit  this  sacrilege?" 
And  all  the  counsellors,  the  bards,  the  judges,  and 
the  nobles  answered,  "  We  know  not."  But  the  chief 
of  the  Druids  cried  aloud  to  Laeghaire,  "  O  King,  if 
that  distant  flame  be  not  now  extinguished,  it  will 
never  be  put  out.  Before  it  our  sacred  flame  will  pale, 
and  the  man  who  has  lighted  it  will  destroy  thy  king- 


ST  PATRICK  49 

dom.  Over  thee  and  over  us  he  will  bear  rule,  and 
he  and  his  successors  will  reign  for  ever  in  Ireland/' 
Then  the  king  ordered  the  Druids  to  seize  the  sacri- 
legious wretch,  and  bring  him  to  Tara.  So  the  Druids, 
with  their  chariots,  their  horses,  and  their  spearmen, 
set  forth  on  their  mission.  They  found  that  the  light 
was  shining  upon  a  little  altar  set  up  in  a  rude  hut, 
and  before  the  shrine  knelt  white-robed  men  in  prayer. 
They  were  St  Patrick,  his  twelve  priests,  and  the  boy, 
Benignus,  who  were  celebrating  their  midnight  service 
to  welcome  the  dawn  of  Easter  morning. 

The  Druids  dared  not  enter.  Standing  without, 
they  bade  the  men  come  forth.  Patrick  obeyed  the 
summons,  and  followed  the  Druids  to  the  palace  of 
Tara,  chanting  as  he  went,  "  Some  put  their  trust  in 
chariots,  and  some  in  horses ;  but  we  will  remember 
the  Name  of  the  Lord  our  God."  Before  the 
assembled  hosts  he  spoke  of  the  Kingdom  founded 
by  the  King  of  kings,  and  of  Him  who  reigns  from 
the  Cross.  With  words  of  such  power  did  he  speak, 
that  nature  was  hushed  in  stillness ;  the  ebbing  tide 
ceased  to  sink ;  the  branches  stirred  not  in  the  woods ; 
the  eagle  checked  his  flight ;  the  white  stag  of  Mulla, 
bending  over  the  stream,  forbore  to  drink.  The  power 
of  the  Druids  was  broken.  As  day  dawned,  the 
magic  circles  were  dispersed,  the  sacred  pyre  was 
cold,  and  the  only  flame  that  shone  through  the 
twilight  was  the  altar-fire  which  the  Christians  had 
kindled  to  hail  the  resurrection  of  their  Lord. 

In  the  career,  both  legendary  and  historical,  of 
Columba,  to  whom,  and  to  whose  spiritual  posterity, 
Northern  Britain  owed  its  Christianity,  may  be  traced 
the  power  of  the  Psalms.  Born  in  521,  at  Gartan,  in 
Donegal,  Columba  died  in  597.  His  life  thus  spans 

D 


50  THE  FORMATION  OF  NATIONS 

the  century  which  preceded  the  landing  of  Augustine 
in  England. 

On  the  stone  of  Lacknacor,  in  Donegal,  Columba 
was  born.  As  the  great  missionary  gave  up  his  native 
land  for  the  love  of  God  and  of  human  souls,  so  those 
who  sleep  a  night  upon  this  stone  are  cured  from  that 
home-sickness  which  is  the  anguish  of  emigrants. 
When  Columba  knew  only  how  to  read  the  alphabet, 
he  was  able,  as  an  old  life  of  the  saint  records,  to  say 
the  Psalms  by  heart.  The  priest,  Cruithnechan,  who 
had  baptised  him,  was  called  upon  at  an  ecclesiastical 
festival  to  recite  the  Psalm  (ci.),  "  My  song  shall  be  of 
mercy  and  judgment."  Memory  and  voice  failed  him ; 
but,  in  the  place  of  his  guardian,  the  child  repeated 
the  Psalm,  and  thus  "the  names  of  God  and  of 
Columba  were  magnified  by  the  miracle." 

On  the  shores  of  Strangford  Lough,  Columba 
became  a  pupil  of  St  Finnian.  There,  so  legend  tells 
us,  he  copied  his  host's  Psalter  by  stealth,  shutting 
himself  up  by  night  in  the  church  where  the  book  was 
treasured,  and  writing  by  the  light  which  streamed 
from  his  own  hand.  Finnian  claimed  the  copy; 
Columba  resisted  the  claim.  The  dispute  was  referred 
to  the  king  at  Tara,  who,  in  homely  phrase,  gave  his 
decision  against  Columba :  "to  every  cow  her  calf"  : 
to  the  book  its  copy.  In  defence  of  his  treasure, 
Columba  armed  the  clans,  and  Diarmid  was  defeated 
at  the  bloody  "Battle  of  the  Psalter."  Under  the 
name  of  Cathac,  or  "  The  Battler,"  the  O'Donnells, 
for  centuries,  carried  to  their  battles  the  silver  case 
containing  Columba's  reputed  copy  of  the  Psalter  as 
a  pledge  of  victory. 

In  563,  Columba  left  his  beloved  oak  groves  of 
Derry,  and  with  twelve  companions,  drove  his  hide- 


COLUMBA  51 

bound  coracle  on  the  shores  of  lona,  at  the  spot  still 
known  as  "the  bay  of  the  osier  bark."  From  lona 
the  "island  soldier"  pushed  his  missionary  enter- 
prises, for  more  than  thirty  years,  among  the  Picts 
and  Scots,  and  ruled  the  numerous  churches  which 
were  founded  in  Ireland,  Scotland,  and  Northumbria. 
In  June  597,  Columba  had  reached  his  77th  year. 
Worn  with  age  and  labour,  he  knew  that  his  end  was 
at  hand.  He  had  gone  to  bless  a  distant  barn  belong- 
ing to  the  monastery  of  lona.  As  he  rested  on  his 
road  home  by  a  wayside  cross,  on  a  little  hill,  there 
came  to  him  a  white  pack-horse,  which  carried  the 
milking  vessels  from  the  cow-sheds  to  the  monastery. 
Laying  its  head  upon  his  shoulder  with  many  plaintive 
moans,  it  gazed  into  his  face  with  eyes  filled  with  tears. 
The  attendant  would  have  driven  away  the  faithful 
mourner,  but  Columba  forbade  him,  saying,  "  Let  be ; 
it  so  loveth  me,  that  it  poureth  its  bitter  grief  into  my 
bosom.  Thou,  being  a  man,  and  having  a  rational  soul, 
canst  know  nothing  of  my  departure  hence,  save  that 
which  I  myself  have  told  thee.  But  to  this  brute  beast, 
being  devoid  of  human  reason,  the  Creator  hath  revealed 
that  I,  its  master,  am  about  to  leave  it."  So  saying,  he 
blessed  the  pack-horse,  which  went  sorrowfully  away. 
Returning  to  his  cell,  he  sat  there  transcribing  the 
Psalter.  When  he  came  to  the  10th  verse  of  Ps. 
xxxiv.,  "The  lions  do  lack,  and  suffer  hunger;  but 
they  who  seek  the  Lord  shall  want  no  manner  of 
thing  that  is  good," — he  laid  down  his  pen.  "  Here," 
he  said,  "  I  make  an  end ;  what  follows,  Baithen  will 
write."  As  Adamnanus  comments,  the  last  verse  was 
fit  for  Columba,  who  should  lack  none  of  the  treasures 
of  eternity ;  and  for  Baithen,  who  succeeded  him  both 
as  a  teacher  and  as  a  writer,  it  was  fitting  that  he 


52  THE  FORMATION  OF  NATIONS 

should  write  the  words  that  followed,  "Come,  ye 
children,  and  hearken  unto  me :  I  will  teach  you  the 
fear  of  the  Lord  "  (Ps.  xxxiv.,  verse  11).  After  vespers, 
as  was  his  wont,  with  the  bare  flag  for  his  couch  and 
for  his  pillow  a  stone,  Columba  passed  the  early  hours 
of  the  night.  As  the  bell  tolled  for  the  nocturnal  office 
of  the  morning  of  Sunday,  June  9th,  he  rose,  and 
entered  the  church  before  the  brethren.  Diarmid,  his 
faithful  attendant,  drawing  near  to  the  door,  saw  that 
the  building  was  flooded  with  a  heavenly  light,  which 
disappeared  as  his  foot  touched  the  threshold.  Greatly 
wondering,  he  asked,  "  Where  art  thou,  my  father  ? " 
Then,  groping  his  way  through  the  darkness,  he  found 
Columba  lying  before  the  altar.  He  raised  the  saint's 
head,  and  sitting  beside  him,  laid  it  on  his  bosom.  Thus 
they  were  found  by  the  brethren,  and  then,  as  Diarmid 
raised  his  master's  right  hand,  Columba  moved  it  in 
sign  of  blessing,  and  so  passed  away. 

lona  became  for  the  Celtic  races  the  cradle  of 
sacred  knowledge,  the  nursery  of  bishops,  the  religious 
capital  of  Northern  Britain,  the  burying-place  of  its 
kings.  "  Where  is  Duncan  ? "  asks  Ross  of  Macduff, 
and  Macduff  replies : 

"  Carried  to  Colme-kill : 
The  sacred  storehouse  of  his  predecessors 
And  guardian  of  their  bones."  * 

On  certain  evenings,  every  year,  St  Columba  is 
seen  counting  the  surrounding  islands,  lest  any  should 
have  been  sunk  by  the  power  of  witchcraft : 

"  As  lona's  saint,  a  giant  form, 
Throned  on  his  towers,  conversing  with  the  storm, 
Counts  every  wave-worn  isle  and  mountain  hoar 
From  Kilda  to  the  green  leme's  shore." 

*  Macbeth,  Act  II.,  scene  iv. 


CUTHBERT  53 

Among  the  spiritual  descendants  of  Columba, 
none  is  more  famous  than  Cuthbert.  As  a  shepherd 
lad,  tending  his  flock  by  night  on  the  hills  of  Lammer- 
moor,  he  saw  the  vision  which  determined  his  vocation. 
Suddenly  the  dark  sky  shone  with  a  broad  tract  of 
light,  down  which  descended  a  host  of  angels,  who 
presently  mounted  heavenwards,  bearing  with  them 
the  soul  they  had  sought  on  earth.  Aidan,  Bishop 
of  Lindisfarne,  had  died  that  night  (651).  Thirteen 
years  later,  Cuthbert  was  drawn  from  Melrose,  and 
appointed  prior  of  the  monastery  of  Lindisfarne,  that 
he  might  reform  the  abuses  of  the  house.  After  twelve 
years,  he  withdrew  to  the  barren  island  of  Fame,  where 
he  built  an  anchorite's  cell. 

Legend  lingers  lovingly  round  his  name.  The  sea- 
fowl,  whom  he  made  his  companions,  are  called  the 
Birds  of  St  Cuthbert.  The  little  shells  that  are  found 
on  the  coast  are  known  as  the  Beads  of  St  Cuthbert ; 
and  by  night  he  may  still  be  seen,  so  tradition  tells  us, 
fashioning  them,  with  a  stone  for  his  hammer,  and  a 
rock  for  his  anvil : 

"  But  fain  St  Hilda's  nuns  would  learn 
If  on  a  rock,  by  Lindisfarne, 
St  Cuthbert  sits  and  toils  to  frame 
The  seaborn  beads  that  bear  his  name." 

From  his  dear  solitude  he  was  taken,  against  his 
will,  to  be  made  Bishop  of  Lindisfarne  (685).  Two 
years  afterwards,  he  returned  to  his  cell  a  dying  man. 
He  died  March  20th,  687,  having  received  the  Sacra- 
ment at  the  hands  of  Herefrith,  Abbot  of  Lindisfarne, 
who  tells  the  story  of  his  death.  Near  the  landing- 
place  of  the  island  was  a  rude  shelter,  in  which  some 
of  the  brethren  had  passed  the  night  in  prayer  and 


54  THE  FORMATION  OF  NATIONS 

chanting.  When  Herefrith  brought  the  news  of  Cuth- 
bert's  death,  the  monks  were  singing  the  60th  Psalm. 
By  an  agreed  signal,  the  light  of  two  torches,  held 
aloft,  proclaimed  to  the  watcher  on  the  mainland 
that  the  soul  of  Cuthbert  had  departed  to  the  Lord. 
Hurrying  from  the  tower  to  bear  the  news  to  those 
who  worshipped  in  the  church,  the  watchman  found 
the  assembled  brethren  singing  the  same  Psalm. 

The  influence  of  Columba  and  his  followers  over- 
ran Scotland ;  it  crossed  the  borders  into  England ; 
it  extended  to  the  Midland  Counties.  Along  the 
West,  its  Irish  type  came  into  contact  with  British 
Christianity.  Kentigern,  of  whom  the  story  runs 
that  he  began  the  day  by  reciting  the  Psalter  stand- 
ing breast-high  in  a  running  stream,  was  at  once  the 
beloved  St  Mungo  of  Glasgow,  and  the  founder  of  the 
monastery  of  Elwy,  in  North  Wales. 

Unlike  the  continental  invasions  which  over- 
whelmed and  submerged  the  native  populations,  the 
invaders  of  Britain  fought  their  way,  step  by  step,  in 
face  of  stubborn  resistance.  Gradually  the  British 
were  forced  back  into  their  mountain  fastnesses,  carry- 
ing with  them  the  national  forms  of  their  Christian 
worship,  which  they  jealously  guarded  as  symbols  of 
their  independence.  With  fire  and  sword,  heathen 
invaders  swept  away  priests  and  people,  and  the 
wooden  reed-thatched  churches  in  which  they  wor- 
shipped. So  ruthless  was  the  destruction,  that  in  it 
Bede,  like  Jerome,  or  like  the  historian  of  the  Vandals 
in  Africa,  saw  the  words  of  the  Psalm  verified :  "  O 
God,  the  heathen  are  come  into  Thine  inheritance," 
etc.  (Ps.  Ixxix.,  verses  1-4).  It  is  a  period  of  dark- 
ness, with  few  and  uncertain  glimmerings  of  light. 
But  among  the  legendary  or  historical  records  of  the 


THE  BATTLE  OF  MOLD  55 

persecuted  Church,  the  Psalms  are  associated  with 
one  signal  triumph  of  the  native  Christians  over  their 
heathen  invaders.  In  429,  Germanus,  Bishop  of 
Auxerre,  and  Lupus,  Bishop  of  Troyes,  were  im- 
plored by  the  Britons  to  aid  them  against  the  Picts 
and  Saxons.  At  Eastertide,  so  runs  the  story,  the 
little  army  of  newly-made  Christians,  "  with  the  dew 
of  baptism  fresh  upon  them,"  was  posted  by  Germanus 
in  a  defile,  near  Mold,  in  Flintshire,  close  to  a  spot  still 
known  as  Maes-Garmon,  "the  field  of  Germanus." 
As  the  heathen  host  approached,  the  Britons,  at  a 
signal  from  the  bishop,  shouted  three  times  the 
Paschal  Alleluia.1*  Caught  up  and  re-echoed  among 
the  hills,  the  sound  struck  terror  into  the  Picts  and 
Saxons.  Throwing  down  their  arms,  they  fled ;  and 
faith,  unarmed,  won  a  bloodless  victory. 

Among  the  national  institutions  of  British 
Christianity  were  their  colleges,  partly  religious, 
partly  educational,  in  which  the  members  were 
numbered  by  their  thousands.  The  exact  Rule  which 
governed  these  establishments  is  uncertain.  But,  as 
in  Columba's  institutions,  the  object  of  study  was  the 
Scripture,  and  especially  the  Psalms,  so  the  names  of 
the  Welsh  colleges  Cor  (choir)  and  Bangor  (high  choir) 
may  show  that  choral  services  were  an  essential  part 
of  their  arrangements.  At  Bangor  Iltyd,  100  of  the 
members  were  engaged  every  hour  in  chanting,  so  that 
without  intermission,  psalms  were  rendered  night  and 
day.  At  Elwy,  in  North  Wales,  365  of  the  brethren 
were  devoted,  day  and  night,  to  the  singing  of  psalms 
and  the  divine  offices,  so  that  the  praise  of  God 
from  year's  end  to  year's  end  never  ceased.  Another 
famous  monastic  institution  in  Wales  was  Llancarvan, 

*  The  Hallel  of  Ps.  cxiii.-cxviii.,  or  of  cxxxiv.-cxxxvii. 


56  THE  FORMATION  OF  NATIONS 

of  which  Cadoc  the  Wise  was  the  first  abbot  or  prin- 
cipal. It  was  with  a  psalm  that  Gwynlliu  the  Warrior, 
father  of  Cadoc,  turned  from  a  life  of  violence  to  the 
austerities  of  an  anchorite.  Won  to  religion  by  the 
example  of  his  son,  the  robber  chieftain  did  penance 
for  his  sins,  chanted  Psalm  xx.,  "The  Lord  hear 
thee  in  the  day  of  trouble,"  retired  from  the  world, 
and  lived  in  such  sanctity  that  he  is  commemorated 
as  St  Woolos,  the  patron  saint  of  Newport  in 
Monmouthshire. 

In  the  year  of  Columba's  death  (597),  Augustine 
and  his  companions  landed  in  Kent,  to  attempt  the 
conversion  of  Saxon  England.  That  event  brought 
Roman  Christianity  into  collision  and  conflict  with 
the  Irish  and  British  types :  it  introduced  the  Bene- 
dictine Rule  as  a  rival  to  the  existing  discipline  of 
Celtic  monasteries ;  it  carried  England  once  again  into 
the  circle  of  European  life.  How  complete  was  the 
darkness  which,  in  the  fifth  and  sixth  centuries,  hung 
over  England,  may  be  gathered  from  the  account  given 
by  Procopius  (500-65)  of  the  island  of  Brittia.*  The 
island,  he  says,  is  the  Island  of  Silence  and  the  Dead. 
On  the  opposite  coast  of  the  mainland  live  subjects  of 
the  Prankish  kings,  fishermen  and  husbandmen,  who 
hold  their  land  free,  except  for  one  service.  That 
service  is  to  transport  the  souls  of  the  dead  from  the 
mainland  to  the  island  coast.  At  midnight,  an  unseen 
hand  knocks  at  their  doors,  and  the  voice  of  an  un- 
seen being  summons  them  to  their  labour.  How  or 
why  they  are  constrained  to  obey,  they  know  not; 
they  only  know  that  they  are  so  constrained.  Rising 
from  their  beds,  and  hurrying  to  the  shore,  they  there 
find  boats  that  are  not  their  own,  loaded  to  a  finger's 

*  De  Bello  Gotihico,  iv.  20, 


GREGORY  THE  GREAT  57 

breadth  between  the  gunwale  and  the  water ;  yet  no 
forms  are  seen,  no  freight  is  visible.  They  push  off; 
they  bend  to  their  oars ;  and,  in  one  short  hour,  they 
drive  the  strange  barks  upon  the  shore  of  the  island, 
which,  in  their  own  boats,  with  oars  and  sail,  they  can 
scarcely  reach  in  a  night  and  a  day.  None  are  seen 
to  land,  or  to  leave  the  boat.  But  a  voice  calls  each 
shadow  by  name,  proclaiming  its  earthly  dignities  and 
parentage.  When  the  voice  is  silent,  the  boat  is  now 
so  lightly  laden  that  only  the  keel  is  covered.  Thus 
the  rowers  perform  their  service,  and  return  to  the 
shore  of  the  living. 

To  restore  the  Island  of  Death  and  Silence  to 
Christian  life,  had  been  the  cherished  dream  of  Pope 
Gregory  the  Great,  when  he  was  still  a  humble  monk 
in  the  Benedictine  monastery  of  St  Andrew,  which 
he  had  founded  in  his  father's  palace  on  the  Ccelian 
Hill.  In  the  familiar  story  of  his  conception  of  the 
dream,  the  Psalms  have  their  place.  The  countrymen 
of  the  three  angel-faced  Angles,  in  their  remote  York- 
shire home,  were  to  be  plucked  from  the  ire  of  God, 
and  taught  to  sing  their  Alleluias  in  the  realm  of  King 
^Ella.  Gregory's  love  of  the  Psalms  is  illustrated  by 
the  picture  of  his  mother  Silvia,  visible  for  centuries 
after  his  death,  which  he  caused  to  be  painted  on  the 
walls  of  what  is  now  the  Church  of  St  Gregory  at 
Home.  In  her  left  hand  she  held  the  Psalter,  open 
at  the  words,  "O  let  my  soul  live,  and  it  shall  praise 
Thee ;  and  Thy  judgments  shall  help  me  "  (Ps.  cxix., 
verse  175).  It  was  with  the  words  of  a  psalm  that 
Gregory  expressed  his  love  of  the  monastic  seclusion 
from  which  he  was  torn,  to  be  made  Pope  (590).  He 
lamented  a  change,  which  seemed  to  thrust  him  far  from 
the  face  of  God,  and  back  into  the  world.  "  I  panted," 


58  THE  FORMATION  OF  NATIONS 

he  writes,  "for  the  face  of  God,  not  in  words  only, 
but  from  the  inmost  marrow  of  my  heart,  crying,  '  My 
heart  hath  talked  of  Thee,  Seek  ye  my  face  :  Thy  face, 
Lord,  will  I  seek ' "  (Ps.  xxvii.,  verse  9).  But  when 
the  choice  fell  upon  him,  he  seized  the  opportunity  to 
carry  out  the  dream  which,  in  his  own  person,  he  was 
not  permitted  to  fulfil.  As  the  Roman  Senate,  with 
Hannibal  at  the  gates,  sent  forth  its  legions  to  Spain 
and  to  Africa,  so  Gregory,  when  Italy  was  ravaged  by 
invaders,  despatched  his  missionaries  to  Britain.  It 
was  over  a  country  blackened  by  Lombard  fires,  that 
Augustine  passed  as  he  started  on  his  mission.  In 
597  he  landed  in  the  Isle  of  Thanet,  preceded  by  the 
Cross  and  painted  banner,  and  followed  by  his  com- 
panions, chanting  Psalms  and  Litanies. 

With  the  landing  of  Augustine,  the  Benedictine 
Rule  was  introduced  into  England,  and  the  religious 
history  of  Saxon  England  is  to  a  great  extent  bound 
up  in  the  progress  of  the  Order. 

"  Hearken,  my  son ! "  are  the  words  with  which 
begins  the  Rule  of  "Holy  Benet,"  and  "  Ausculta,  O 
fili ! "  are  the  words  which  in  Christian  iconography 
are  inscribed  on  the  book  placed  in  the  hands  of  St 
Benedict.  The  34th  Psalm  (verses  12-15)  strikes  the 
keynote  of  the  Eule.  "The  Lord,"  says  Benedict, 
"  who  seeketh  His  servant  in  the  midst  of  the  people, 
still  saith  to  him, '  What  man  is  he  that  lusteth  to  live, 
and  would  fain  see  good  days  ? '  If  at  that  word  thou 
answerest,  *  It  is  I,'  then  will  the  Lord  say  to  thee, 
'If  thou  wouldst  have  life,  keep  thy  tongue  from 
evil,  and  thy  lips  that  they  speak  no  guile.  Eschew 
evil,  and  do  good ;  seek  peace,  and  ensue  it.'  And 
that  being  done,  'Then  shall  My  eyes  be  upon  you, 
and  My  ears  shall  be  open  to  your  cry.  And,  even 


THE  BENEDICTINE  RULE  59 

before  them  callest  Me,  I  shall  say  to  thee,  Here 
am  I.'" 

On  the  Psalms  are  based  many  of  the  chapters  of 
the  Benedictine  Eule,  and  in  them  the  book  is  pro- 
fusely quoted.  With  a  psalm,  novices  were  admitted 
into  the  Order.  The  child,  whose  hands  had  been 
wrapped  in  the  white  folds  of  the  altar-cloth,  grew  up 
in  the  monastic  school.  To  him  at  length  came  the 
desire  to  give  himself  to  God  :  "  Here  will  I  dwell  for 
ever"(Ps.  xxiii.,  verse  6).  He  became  a  novice ;  and, 
the  year  of  his  noviciate  ended,  he  took  the  vows  to 
remain  attached  to  the  monastery ;  to  labour,  while 
strength  lasted  ;  to  perfect  himself  in  the  state  to  which 
he  was  called ;  and,  lastly,  to  obey  the  abbot.  Then, 
with  outstretched  arms,  he  sang  three  times  the  verse 
which  was  the  "  Open  Sesame  "  of  the  monastic  life 
(Ps.  cxix.,  verse  116),  "O  stablish  me  according  to 
Thy  word,  that  I  may  live  ;  and  let  me  not  be  disap- 
pointed of  my  hope."  Three  times  the  community  re- 
peated the  words,  and  added  the  Gloria  Patri.  Then, 
dressed  in  monastic  habit,  the  new  brother  knelt  at  the 
feet  of  each  of  the  brethren,  asked  for  their  prayers, 
received  the  fraternal  kiss,  and  so  became  a  monk, 
bound  by  the  threefold  cord  of  Obedience,  Labour,  and 
Humility.  With  the  same  verse  from  the  Psalms,  girls 
were  received  into  the  religious  communities,  which, 
like  the  company  of  Benedict's  sister,  Scholastica, 
followed  the  Benedictine  Eule. 

Once  admitted  to  the  Order,  the  lives  of  monks  and 
nuns  were  to  a  great  extent  regulated  by  the  spirit,  if 
not  by  the  letter,  of  the  Psalms.  On  the  words,  "  I 
said,  I  will  take  heed  to  my  ways,  that  I  offend  not 
in  my  tongue  "  (Ps.  xxxix.,  verse  1),  was  based  the 
rule  of  silence.  One  of  the  first  labours  of  the  brethren 


60  THE  FORMATION  OF  NATIONS 

was  to  learn  the  Psalter  by  heart.  In  such  duties  of 
monastic  life,  whether  homely  or  sacred,  as  making 
bread  for  the  altar,  setting  out  the  relics,  attending  the 
death-agony  of  a  brother,  taking  places  at  the  re- 
fectory, the  weekly  washing  of  feet,  the  beginning  and 
end  of  readings  during  meals — psalms  were  sung  or 
recited.  In  adorning  copies  of  the  Psalter  with  all 
the  quaint  and  beautiful  fancies  of  devotional  imagi- 
nation, monks  spent  prayerful  years  of  solitude  and 
silence.  As  shrines  for  the  Psalter,  their  abbeys  and 
churches  were  built,  and  to  the  chanting  of  a  psalm 
(Ixxxiv.)  their  chosen  sites  were  sprinkled  with  holy 
water.  A  Psalm,  "  Praise  the  Lord  with  harp  ;  sing 
praises  unto  Him  with  the  lute,  and  instrument  of  ten 
strings,"  sanctioned  the  use  of  the  organ  in  divine 
service.  By  verses  of  the  Psalms  ("In  the  evening 
and  morning,  and  at  noonday,  will  I  pray,  and  that 
instantly,"  Ps.  lv.,  verse  18  ;  "  Seven  times  a  day  do  I 
praise  Thee,  because  of  Thy  righteous  judgments," 
Ps.  cxix.,  verse  164 ;  and  "At  midnight  I  will  rise  to 
give  thanks  unto  Thee,"  Ps.  cxix.,  verse  62)  the 
canonical  hours  were  regulated,  and  on  the  Psalms 
the  services  themselves  were  mainly  based,  so  that  the 
Psalter  was  sung  through  every  week.  To  the  singing 
of  a  psalm  (cl.)  their  bells  were  cast,  as  the  brethren 
waited  at  the  furnace  for  the  metal  to  be  poured  into 
the  mould.  With  the  chanting  of  the  Psalms,  monks 
traversed  wild  forests  and  mountain  solitudes ;  or,  like 
Stephen  Harding,  second  founder  of  the  Cistercians, 
as  he  journeyed  to  Rome,  met  the  perils  of  the  way 
by  a  daily  recitation  of  the  Psalter.  In  the  words  of 
a  psalm,  the  monastic  vocation  came  to  men  like 
Thomas  Aquinas  (Ps.  Ixxxiv.,  verse  11,  "I  had  rather 
be  a  doorkeeper  in  the  house  of  my  God,  than  to 


THE  PSALMS  IN  MONASTIC  LIFE  61 

Iwell  in  the  tents  of  ungodliness"),  and  he  obeyed 
:he  call  to  become  a  Dominican.  With  a  psalm 
'Ps.  cxiv.,  "When  Israel  came  out  of  Egypt"),  men 
ike  Francis  Borgia,  Duke  of  Gandia  (1510-72),  turned 
,heir  backs  on  wealth  and  worldly  honours  to  enter 
religious  societies.  With  a  psalm,  like  Gall,  or 
Vincentius  of  Lerins  (Ps.  xlvi.,  verse  10),  monks 
3hose  the  sites  of  monasteries,  and,  as  they  reared 
:he  walls,  exorcised  the  demons  of  mountain,  lake  or 
wood.  In  the  spirit  of  the  Psalms,  monastic  builders 
lavished  their  genius  and  devotion  on  arch  and  capital, 
iltar-shrine  and  tower,  portal  and  window,  that  they 
night  beautify  the  habitation  of  God,  and  prepare  a 
Iwelling-place  meet  for  His  honour.  Thus  it  was 
with  Hugh  of  Cluni,  who,  according  to  his  biographer, 
said  within  himself,  with  the  Psalmist,  "  I  have  loved 
:he  habitation  of  Thy  house,  and  the  place  where  Thine 
ionour  dwelleth  "  (Ps.  xxvi.,  verse  8) ;  and  whatsoever 
:he  devotion  of  the  faithful  gave,  he  entirely  conse- 
3rated  to  the  decoration  of  his  church  or  to  the  good 
}f  the  poor. 

To  the  mediaeval  monk,  the  choir  was  the  garden 
}f  the  Lord,  in  which  he  laboured  day  and  night ;  it 
svas  his  paradise,  where,  in  the  cool  shadow  cast  by 
lis  E/edeemer,  he  might  rest  from  the  burning  heat  of 
,he  world.  One  of  the  contemporaries  of  Thomas  a 
Kempis  describes  him,  when  he  took  part  in  the 
)ffices  of  the  Church  :  "  Whilst  he  was  singing,  he  was 
:o  be  observed  with  his  face  always  raised  towards 
leaven,  as  if  inspired  with  a  sacred  enthusiasm,  carried 
ind  borne  beyond  himself  by  the  wonderful  sweetness 
)f  the  Psalms."  This  was  the  spirit  of  mediaeval 
3salmody.  As  its  tide  rolled  forth,  night  and  day, 
rom  the  convent  or  monastery,  and  swelled  over  hill 


62  THE  FORMATION  OF  NATIONS 

and  fen,  midnight  wayfarers,  travelling  in  fear  of 
their  lives,  felt  that  they  were  in  the  hands  of  God ; 
and  labourers,  rising  to  their  work  at  dawn,  or  resting 
at  noon,  or  returning  with  night,  knew,  though  they 
understood  not  the  words,  that  their  toil  was  con- 
secrated in  the  sight  of  their  heavenly  Father. 

As  the  Psalms  presided  over  every  part  of  a  monk's 
life,  so  they  were  present  with  him  in  his  death.  When 
a  brother  lay  dying,  the  haircloth  was  spread,  the  ashes 
were  scattered,  and  in  them  a  cross  was  traced.  Here 
the  sick  man  was  laid.  By  blows  on  a  board  the 
brethren  were  summoned,  and,  wherever  they  were, 
or  whatever  their  occupations,  they  ran  to  his  side, 
and  remained  with  him  in  his  anguish,  chanting  the 
Penitential  Psalms  and  Litanies.  Thus,  in  the 
presence  of  the  fraternity,  in  sackcloth  and  ashes, 
supported  by  the  supplications  of  their  brethren,  with 
the  words  of  the  Psalms  beating  on  their  ears,  as  they 
had  sounded  throughout  their  lives,  died  thousands  of 
"  Knights  of  God  " — members  of  the  most  powerful, 
and,  with  all  their  shortcomings,  the  most  useful,  of 
mediaeval  institutions. 

With  words  of  the  Psalms  in  their  ears,  or  on 
their  lips,  died  three  of  the  men  who  were  most 
conspicuous  in  the  establishment  of  the  Benedictine 
Eule  in  England— Benedict  Biscop  (623-90),  Wilfrid 
(634-709),  and  Dunstan  (924-88). 

To  Benedict,  England  owes  a  vast  debt.  On  his 
work  rested  much  of  the  learning  and  culture  of  the 
eighth  century.  Studying  the  Benedictine  Rule  at 
Canterbury,  at  Lerins,  and  other  continental  monas- 
teries, he  established  it  in  his  monasteries  of  Jarrow 
and  Wearmouth.  Six  times  he  visited  Eome — now 
seeking  architects,  masons,  and  materials  to  beautify 


WILFRID  63 

lis  churches;  now  bringing  with  him  musicians  or 
nstructors  in  ritual ;  now  gathering  relics,  pictures, 
mages  and  vestments  ;  now  collecting  the  manuscripts 
ivhich  made  his  libraries  famous.  Worn  out  by  labours, 
ind  paralysed  in  his  limbs,  he  listened,  through  sleep- 
ess  nights,  to  the  repetition  of  psalms,  in  which  he 
ivas  himself  too  weak  to  join.  He  died  January  12th, 
590,  when  those  who  watched  by  him  were  repeating 
Ps.  Ixxxiii.,  "  Hold  not  Thy  tongue,  O  God ;  keep  not 
still  silence."  Within  the  walls  of  Jarrow  the  Vener- 
ible  Bede,  the  father  of  English  history,  the  flower  of 
;he  monastic  schools,  the  true  type  of  a  Benedictine, 
ivas  already  harvesting  the  stores  of  learning  which 
Benedict  had  collected,  giving  his  whole  energies,  as 
le  says  of  himself,  to  meditation  on  the  Scriptures ; 
lelighting,  amid  the  observance  of  the  monastic  rule 
ind  the  daily  ministry  of  singing  in  the  church,  either 
;o  learn,  or  to  teach,  or  to  write. 

Widely  different  from  the  methods  of  Benedict 
Biscop  were  the  means  by  which  Wilfrid  sustained 
lie  cause,  of  which  both  were  zealous  champions.  Yet 
n  their  love  of  art  they  were  at  one,  and  the  magnifi- 
cence of  Kipon  rivalled  that  of  Wearmouth  or  Jarrow. 
[n  the  monastery  of  Lindisfarne,  Wilfrid  studied  the 
Scottish  usages,  acquired  fame  for  learning,  and  com- 
nitted  the  Psalter  to  memory  in  the  version  of  Jerome. 
3ut  Kome  exercised  over  him  an  irresistible  fascina- 
ion.  His  mind  was  set  towards  the  Papal  city,  even 
luring  his  stay  at  Canterbury,  where  once  more  he 
earnt  the  Psalter  by  heart — this  time  in  the  old  Italic 
^ersion,  which  was  adopted  there  and  at  Kome.  The 
rears  652-8  were  spent  at  Lyons  and  at  Rome  in  study  - 
ng  the  usages,  ritual,  and  discipline,  which  he  laboured 
ill  his  stormy  life  to  establish  in  Northern  England, 


64  THE  FORMATION  OF  NATIONS 

In  his  long  conflict  against  Celtic  Christianity,  he 
suffered  deposition,  exile,  imprisonment.  But  his  pur- 
pose never  wavered.  Thrown  into  prison  at  Dunbar 
(circa  681),  the  bishop  was  deserted  by  his  spiritual 
chief,  separated  from  friends  and  adherents,  deprived 
of  all  that  he  possessed  except  his  clothing,  robbed 
even  of  his  precious  reliquary,  which  was  the  com- 
panion of  his  many  journeys.  Yet  his  guards  heard 
the  fallen  prelate  chanting  the  Psalms  as  cheerfully  as 
if  he  were  in  his  own  monastery  of  Kipon  or  Hexham. 
His  banishments  were  fruitful  in  labour.  During  one, 
he  became  the  apostle  of  the  Frisians ;  in  another,  the 
missionary  of  Sussex  and  the  Isle  of  Wight.  The  last 
effort  of  his  old  age  was  the  visitation  of  the  monas- 
teries which  he  had  founded.  Setting  out  from  Hex- 
ham,  now  the  centre  of  his  See,  and  visiting  Ripon  on 
his  way,  he  rode  to  the  Mercian  houses  in  turn.  In 
October  709,  he  came  to  Oundle,  in  Northampton- 
shire. There  he  was  seized  with  a  fatal  illness. 
Bound  the  dying  man  gathered  the  whole  community, 
chanting  the  Psalms  which  he  had  loved  so  well.  As 
they  reached  the  30th  verse  of  Ps.  civ.,  "When  thou 
lettest  Thy  breath  go  forth,  they  shall  be  made,"  his 
breathing  ceased,  and  his  stormy  life  was  ended. 

Up  and  down  the  country,  in  England  as  on  the 
Continent,  were  scattered  monastic  institutions — 
links  in  the  national  unity,  sanctuaries  of  religious 
life,  centres  of  education  and  civilisation,  nurseries 
of  arts  and  industries,  agricultural  colonies  which 
drained  fens  or  reclaimed  forests,  treasuries  in  which 
were  preserved  the  riches  of  ancient  learning. 
Gradually  the  stern  severity  of  the  Celtic  discipline 
yielded  before  the  more  human  spirit  of  its  Italian 
rival,  which  hallowed  not  only  manual  but  intellectual 


NEOT  AND  KING  ALFRED  65 

labour.     With  the  Danish  invasions  there  came    a 

check  and  a  recoil.     In  the  North,  East,  and  centre 

of  England,  the  invaders  fell  with  special  fury  on  the 

religious  communities.     They  devoured  the  land  like 

locusts.     Fire  and  sword  swept  away,  in  a  few  hours, 

the  fruits  of  the  patient  toil  of  a  century.     In  the 

South  and  West,  the  defenders,  though  hard-pressed, 

held  their  own.     With  one  signal  triumph  over  the 

Danes,    Saxon    legend    inseparably    associated    the 

Psalms  in  the  person  of  St  Neot,  who  every  morning 

said  the  Psalter  through,  and  every  midnight  chanted 

i  hundred  psalms.     The  saint  died,  full  of  years  and 

lonour,  among  his  countrymen.     No  man  of  equal 

sanctity  had  risen  to  take  his  place,  when,  in  878, 

King  Alfred  lay  in  his  tent  at  Iley,  on  the  eve  of  the 

Dattle  of  Ethendun.     To  the  king  appeared  St  Neot, 

*  like  an  angel  of  God ;  his  hair  white  as  snow,  his 

•aiment  white,  glistering,  and  fragrant  with  the  scents 

)f  heaven."      He   promised  Alfred   victory.      "The 

Lord,"  he  said,  "shall  be  with  you;  even  the  Lord 

itrong  and  mighty,  the  Lord  mighty  in  battle,  who 

jiveth  victory  unto  kings"  (Ps.  xxiv.,  verse  8).     As 

norning  broke,  the   little  band   of  Saxons   fell   on 

Tuthrun  and  the  sleeping  Danes.     So   sudden  was 

heir  onset,  that  at  first  they  carried  all  before  them. 

3ut  gradually  the  tide  of  battle  began  to  sway.     It 

7as  turned  again  in  favour  of  King  Alfred,  when  a 

aajestic  figure,  whom  the  Saxons  recognised  as  St 

^eot  himself,  seizing  the  royal  banner,  marshalled  his 

ountrymen  to  renewed  effort,  victory,  and  pursuit. 

>o,  for  a  time,  peace  came  to  the  land,  and  Guthrun 

nd  his  followers  became  Christians. 

During  this   life-and-death   struggle,  it  was  not 
trange  that  morals  relaxed,  monastic  fervour  cooled, 

£ 


66  THE  FORMATION  OF  NATIONS 

and  heathen  practices  revived.  With  Dunstan,  the 
statesman  who  laboured  to  unite  England  under  King 
Edgar,  the  ecclesiastic  who,  as  Archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury, strove  to  revive  monastic  life — a  new  spirit  was 
breathed  into  Church  and  State.  As  Abbot  of  Glaston- 
bury,  Dunstan  had  reformed  the  community  which  he 
governed.  But  the  Benedictine  Rule  was  then  imper- 
fectly known  to  him,  and  it  was  only  after  his  exile  in 
Flanders  and  his  sojourn  in  the  monastery  of  St  Peter 
at  Ghent  (956-57)  that  he  realised  its  strength.  A 
man  of  learning,  he  was  attracted  by  its  opportunities 
for  education.  To  his  kindly  character  it  com- 
mended itself  by  its  humanity.  Himself  skilled  in 
music,  painting,  iron  work  and  embroidery,  it  appealed 
to  his  artistic  temperament.  Keenly  sensitive  to  the 
immorality  of  the  times,  he  valued  its  example  of  the 
separation  from  all  sexual  relations.  In  its  uniform 
adoption,  he  saw  a  powerful  instrument  for  the  moral 
reform  of  Church  and  State,  for  the  unification  and 
intellectual  progress  of  the  nation.  Before  his  death, 
the  Rule  was  practically  universal  in  England.  Almost 
his  last  public  act  was  the  coronation  of  Ethelred,  in 
978,  at  Kingston.  Retiring  from  affairs  of  state,  he 
passed  his  remaining  years  at  Canterbury,  occupied  in 
business,  in  teaching,  or  the  practice  of  handicrafts, 
constant  in  prayer  by  night  and  day,  delighting  in  the 
services  of  the  Church  and  in  psalmody.  In  May  988, 
his  strength  failed  him.  He  had  received  the  "  Viati- 
cum," and  died  as  he  was  giving  thanks  in  the  words, 
"  The  merciful  and  gracious  Lord  hath  so  done  His 
marvellous  works,  that  they  ought  to  be  had  in 
remembrance.  He  hath  given  meat  unto  them  that 
fear  Him"  (Ps.  cxi.,  verses  4,  5). 

At  the  close  of  the  tenth  century,  the  Benedictine 


TRIUMPH  OF  THE  BENEDICTINE  RULE         67 

Rule  had  conquered  France ;  it  had  won  Germany 
and  Spain;  it  was  established  in  England.  The 
vision  of  Benedict  was  realised,  and  the  monastic 
world  gathered  together  under  one  beam  of  the 
sun. 


CHAPTER  TV 

THE   MIDDLE   AGES 

The  battle  of  Vougle ;  the  Psalms  in  ecclesiastical  or  semi-ecclesi- 
astical history  (1)  the  Papacy  and  the  Empire — Charlemagne, 
Gregory  VII.  and  Henry  I V.,  Anselm  and  William  Rufus,  Henry 
II.  and  Thomas  a  Becket,  Alexander  III.  and  Frederick  Bar- 
barossa ;  (2)  pilgrimages ;  (3)  crusades,  Abp.  Baldwin,  Richard 
I.,  Henry  V. — Abbot  Adelme  at  the  Tagus,  Cardinal  Ximenes, 
Demetrius  of  the  Don  ;  (4)  the  religious  revival ;  St  Bernard  ; 
Stephen  Harding  and  the  Cistercian  reform  —  Citeaux  and 
Fountains  Abbey ;  St  Francis  of  Assisi  and  the  Franciscans ; 
the  Psalrns  in  secular  history — William  the  Conqueror,  Vladimir 
Monomachus,  David  I.  of  Scotland,  Abelard  and  Heloi'se,  St 
Louis  of  France,  William  Wallace;  in  mediaeval  science;  in 
mediaeval  literature — De  Imitatione  Christi,  Divina  Commedia, 
Piers  Plowman,  The  Golden  Legend. 

As  the  centuries  advance,  the  Psalms  touch  human 
life  at  points  which  grow  more  and  more  numerous, 
till  the  whole  circle  of  thought  and  action  seems  to  be 
embraced.  Mediaeval  literature  and  science,  as  well 
as  secular  and  ecclesiastical  history,  are  permeated 
by  their  influence. 

The  strongest  of  the  monarchies  which  rose  on  the 
ruins  of  the  Western  Empire  was  the  Frankish  King- 
dom. Hitherto  the  youthful  nations,  whose  vigour 
had  scourged  the  effeminacy  of  the  older  world,  if 
Christians  at  all,  had  been  Arians.  But  the  baptism 
of  Clovis  had  for  the  first  time  arrayed  force  on  the 


BATTLE  OF  VOUGLE  69 

side  of  orthodox  Christianity ;  alike  against  heretics, 
heathen,  and  Saracens,  the  Franks  were  its  zealous 
champions.  It  was  this  fact  that  gave  significance  to 
the  victory  which  Clovis  won  at  Vougle  (507)  over 
Alaric  II.  and  his  Arian  Visigoths. 

Blessed  by  Remy  at  Rheims,  Clovis  had  marched 
towards  the  Loire.  Encamping  close  to  Tours,  he 
sent  to  the  church,  in  which  rested  the  bones  of  St 
Martin,  to  enquire  whether  any  presage  of  victory 
would  be  vouchsafed  to  him.  As  his  messengers 
entered  the  church,  the  choir  were  chanting  the  words, 
"  Thou  has  girded  me  with  strength  unto  the  battle  ; 
Thou  shalt  throw  down  mine  enemies  under  me. 
Thou  hast  made  mine  enemies  also  to  turn  their  backs 
upon  me  ;  and  I  shall  destroy  them  that  hate  me  " 
(Ps.  xviii.,  verses  39,  40).  Encouraged  by  the  omen, 
Clovis  pressed  on.  A  ford  over  the  Vienne  was 
revealed  by  a  deer,  and,  as  he  advanced  towards 
Poitiers,  a  bright  gleam,  shining  from  the  church  of 
St  Hilary  as  from  a  lighthouse,  guided  the  movements 
of  his  troops.  In  the  battle  of  Vougle,  Alaric  was 
killed  by  the  hand  of  Clovis ;  the  Visigoths  fled,  and 
southern  Gaul,  from  the  Loire  to  the  Garonne,  fell 
into  the  hands  of  the  Franks. 

From  the  time  of  Clovis  onwards,  the  growing 
power  of  the  Frankish  Kingdom  had  attracted  the  eyes 
of  successive  Popes,  who  saw  in  its  rulers  the  destined 
heirs  of  the  Roman  Emperors  of  the  West.  The  idea 
of  an  universal  church,  whose  centre  was  Rome, 
rapidly  approached  its  realisation.  With  it  grew  up 
the  conception  of  its  necessary  counterpart,  a  concep- 
tion which  was  bred  partly  of  memory,  partly  of  hope. 
The  establishment  of  an  universal  monarchy  in  close 
alliance  with  the  world-wide  dominion  of  the  Church, 


70  THE  MIDDLE  AGES 

was  the  vision  which  fascinated  the  imagination  of  the 
noblest  minds.  At  the  head  of  this  Christian  common- 
wealth of  nations,  in  its  temporal  character,  was  to 
stand  the  emperor ;  at  its  head,  in  its  spiritual 
character,  was  to  stand  the  Pope. 

For  the  realisation  of  such  a  vision  the  ground  was 
already  prepared.  The  spell  of  the  old  Empire  lay 
upon  the  barbarians  themselves.  Not  only  were  they 
awe -struck  by  the  stately  ceremonial  of  the  Christian 
religion ;  they  were  also  impressed  with  a  sense  of  the 
sanctity  of  the  emperor,  eager  to  preserve  imperial 
institutions,  anxious  to  perpetuate  imperial  methods 
of  administration.  Decrepit  though  the  Eastern 
Empire  might  be,  the  West  was  familiarised  with  the 
idea  of  universal  monarchy  by  the  shadowy  claims, 
waning  powers,  and  insecure  ascendency  of  the 
Byzantine  Emperors. 

In  the  eighth  century  the  policy  of  the  Papacy 
rapidly  assumed  a  definite  shape,  and  the  first  steps 
were  taken  to  break  the  link  which  still  bound  the 
Popes  to  Byzantium.  Already  the  aid  of  Pepin  had 
been  invoked  against  invaders;  already  the  Papacy 
had  lent  a  special  sanctity  to  the  coronation  of  the 
King  of  the  Franks ;  already  it  had  received  its  reward 
in  the  gift  of  the  Papal  States.  Once  more,  at  Pepin's 
death,  the  Lombards  invaded  the  possessions  of  the 
Church.  At  the  call  of  Pope  Hadrian,  Charlemagne 
swept  away  the  invaders,  and  added  Northern  Italy  to 
the  dominions  of  the  Franks. 

With  the  penultimate  stage  of  a  vast  change,  a 
psalm  is  inseparably  connected.  Leaving  his  army  at 
Pavia,  Charlemagne  journeyed  to  Eome.  Outside  the 
city  he  was  welcomed  by  the  Cross,  which  hitherto 
had  only  been  carried  beyond  the  walls  to  greet  the 


CHARLEMAGNE  71 

approach  of  the  Exarch  or  the  Patrician.  At  the 
sight  of  the  sacred  symbol,  Charlemagne  dismounted 
from  his  horse,  and,  entering  Rome  on  foot,  reached 
the  portal  of  St  Peter  (April  2nd,  774).  There  Pope 
Hadrian  received  him  and  took  him  in  his  arms. 
Together  they  entered  the  basilica,  which  Constantino 
had  erected  on  the  spot  traditionally  hallowed  as  the 
scene  of  St  Peter's  martyrdom.  Hand  in  hand,  they 
advanced  towards  the  semicircular  apse,  passed  under 
the  arch  of  victory,  ascended  the  long  flight  of  steps, 
and  prostrated  themselves  before  the  high  altar,  while 
the  multitude,  who  thronged  the  building,  chanted, 
"  Blessed  be  he  that  cometh  in  the  Name  of  the  Lord  " 
(Ps.  cxviii.,  verse  26). 

On  the  next  day,  Charlemagne,  hailed  by  the  Pope 
as  his  champion  and  by  the  people  as  their  deliverer, 
was  confirmed  in  the  title  of  Patrician  and  Consul  of  the 
Romans,  promised  to  protect  the  City  and  defend  the 
Church,  and  in  the  tunic  and  sandals  of  the  Patrician, 
took  his  seat  at  the  tribunal  of  justice.  For  six  and 
twenty  years  the  final  stage  was  postponed,  while  the 
Byzantine  Emperor  remained  the  titular  sovereign  of 
Rome.  On  Christmas  day,  800,  the  long  revolt  was 
consummated.  Western  Europe  disavowed  the  rule  of 
the  Eastern  Empire,  when,  in  the  basilica  of  St  Peter, 
Pope  Leo  III.  placed  on  the  head  of  Charlemagne  "the 
diadem  of  the  Caesars,"  while  the  people  prayed  for  long 
life  and  victory  to  "  Charles,  the  most  pious  Augustus, 
crowned  by  God,  the  peace-giving  Emperor." 

Fourteen  years  later  (January  28th,  814),  Charle- 
magne, whose  favourite  psalm  was  Psalm  Ixviii. 
("Let  God  arise"),  died  at  Aix-la-Chapelle,  repeat- 
ing with  his  last  breath  the  words,  "  Into  Thy  hands 
I  commend  my  spirit"  (Ps.  xxxi.,  verse  6).  He  had 


72  THE  MIDDLE  AGES 

loved  to  be  called  among  his  friends  by  the  name  of 
David.  Church  music  and  psalmody  were  the  delight 
of  a  man,  who,  in  his  terrible  vengeance  on  his 
enemies,  his  political  and  ecclesiastical  work,  and 
the  moral  aberrations  of  his  passionate  nature,  pre- 
sents curious  points  of  resemblance  to  the  founder  of 
the  Jewish  monarchy. 

As  time  went  on,  the  relations  between  the  Papacy 
and  the  Empire  took  a  different  shape,  and  became  a 
contest  for  supremacy  between  the  temporal  and 
spiritual  powers.  At  Salerno,  in  the  Cathedral  of 
St  Matthew  the  Apostle,  surrounded  by  the  narrow, 
irregular  streets,  which  still  bear  witness,  through 
their  varied  architecture,  to  the  Lombard  occupation, 
the  Saracen  conquests,  the  Norman  rule  of  Guiscard, 
and  the  ascendency  of  the  Hohenstaufen,  is  the  tomb 
of  Hildebrand,  the  son  of  a  carpenter  at  Soana,  and, 
as  Gregory  VII. ,  the  vehement  champion  of  the  papal 
supremacy.  It  was  Hildebrand  who  freed  the  Church 
from  vassalage  to  the  temporal  power,  and  stemmed 
the  flowing  tide  of  priestly  corruption.  If,  on  one  side 
of  his  career,  he  seemed  the  incarnation  of  spiritual 
pride,  it  should  not  be  forgotten  that,  as  a  moral 
reformer,  he  roused  the  conscience  of  Europe.  From 
the  austere  heights  of  his  own  self-discipline,  he 
rebuked  the  vices  of  emperors  and  kings,  and  to  his 
example  men  appealed,  in  after  ages,  when  sin  was 
once  more  rampant  in  high  places : 

"  We  need  another  Hildebrand  to  shake 
And  purify  us."  * 

For  a  quarter  of  a  century,  during  five  successive 
pontificates,  Hildebrand  had  guided  the  policy  of  the 

*  Longfellow,  The  Golden  Legend,  iv, 


GREGORY  VH.  73 

Papacy  with  strong  hand  and  watchful  eye.  Tier  by 
tier,  he  had  raised  the  fabric  of  Theocracy,  which,  in 
its  moral  grandeur,  was  the  inspiration  of  his  life.  If 
kings  refused  to  recognise  the  eternal  laws  of  divine 
justice,  their  rule  was  tyranny ;  if  the  people  yielded 
no  obedience  to  civil  rulers,  the  result  was  anarchy. 
It  was  Hildebrand's  aim  to  make  the  Church,  purified, 
and  independent,  the  arbitrator  between  the  two,  and 
the  spiritual  ruler  of  both.  Elected  Pope  in  1073  under 
the  title  of  Gregory  VII.,  he  entered  on  the  struggle 
which  lay  before  him  with  the  serene  conviction  that, 
as  the  Vicar  of  Christ,  he  was  the  Divine  instrument. 
His  ambition  was  for  the  Papacy  rather  than  for  him- 
self. His  pride  was  not  a  peasant's  vanity  in  his 
exalted  station,  but  an  assertion  of  his  dignity  as  the 
earthly  representative  of  God. 

The  history  of  his  Papacy  is  full  of  dramatic  epi- 
sodes. It  had  its  triumph  when  the  Emperor  Henry 
IV.,  in  penitential  garb,  ascended  the  rocky  path, 
and  for  three  days,  in  hunger,  cold  and  shame,  waited 
at  the  gate  of  the  Castle  of  Canossa  (1077).  It  met 
its  fatal  reverse  (1084)  when  the  Pope,  a  prisoner  in 
St  Angelo,  was  rescued  by  E-obert  Guiscard.  Such 
a  downfall  broke  the  heart  of  Gregory.  In  the  Castle 
of  Salerno,  under  the  protection  of  the  Normans,  he 
died  on  25th  May  1085.  His  last  words,  taken  from 
Psalm  xlv.,  verse  8,  breathe  the  tragic  fulness  of 
his  bitter  disappointment,  "I  have  loved  righteous- 
ness, and  hated  iniquity; — and  therefore  I  die  in 
exile." 

The  great  struggle  between  the  Popes  and  the 
temporal  rulers  of  Europe  extended  to  England, 
though,  during  the  reign  of  William  the  Conqueror, 
it  was  averted  by  the  personal  concert  between  him- 


74  THE  MIDDLE  AGES 

self  and  Archbishop  Lanfranc.  But  when  to  William's 
wise,  yet  severe  tyranny  succeeded  the  savage  license 
of  William  Rufus,  that  struggle  between  Church  and 
State  at  once  began  which  lasted  to  the  Reformation. 
In  Archbishop  Anselm  were  worthily  embodied  the 
spiritual  claims  of  the  Church.  Tender-hearted  and 
affectionate,  he  loved  both  man  and  beast.  The  well- 
known  story  of  the  hunted  hare  illustrates  his  feeling 
for  dumb  animals,  and  his  habit  of  reading  moral 
lessons  into  the  ordinary  events  of  life.  As  the  arch- 
bishop rode  from  Windsor  to  Hayes,  a  hare  was  started 
and  pursued  by  his  retainers  and  their  dogs.  It  took 
refuge  under  his  horse,  and  Anselm  bade  the  men  call 
off  their  dogs,  and  let  the  trembling  creature  go.  The 
hunters  laughed.  "Do  ye  laugh?"  he  said;  "this 
poor  beast  is  far  from  laughter.  She  is  like  a  Christian 
soul  ceaselessly  pursued  by  demons,  that  would  drag 
it  down  to  eternal  death.  Poor  soul  in  torture,  look- 
ing round  in  sore  distress,  seeking  with  longing  un- 
speakable for  a  hand  to  save  ! "  Every  instinct  of  his 
nature  impelled  him  towards  the  ideal  rather  than  the 
practical  aspects  of  life,  or  inclined  him  to  study  its 
spiritual  rather  than  its  temporal  needs.  Thought, 
not  action,  was  the  true  sphere  of  the  man  whom 
Dante  places  among  the  doctors  of  the  Church  in  the 
Heaven  of  the  Sun.  Transferred  from  the  retirement 
of  the  Abbey  of  Bee  to  the  publicity  of  the  See  of 
Canterbury  (1093-1109),  he  likens  himself  to  an  owl, 
who,  "  when  he  is  in  his  hole  with  his  young  ones,  is 
happy ;  but  when  he  goes  out  among  crows  and  other 
birds,  they  hunt  him  and  strike  him  with  their  beaks, 
and  he  is  ill  at  ease."  His  office  compelled  him  to  be 
not  only  a  great  ecclesiastic,  but  a  great  feudal  noble. 
It  forced  him,  also,  to  choose  between  the  Pope  and 


ANSELM  75 

the  king.  To  his  pure  soul  the  solution  of  the  diffi- 
culty would  probably  have  been  the  surrender  of 
worldly  greatness,  in  order  to  increase  his  moral 
influence.  But  to  a  guardian  of  the  gifts  bestowed 
upon  the  Church  of  God,  such  a  way  of  escape  was 
impossible.  When  therefore  the  conflict  began,  his 
choice  was  inevitable ;  he  made  it  with  quiet  courage, 
and  adhered  to  it  with  invincible  resolution.  As  the 
struggle  dragged  its  slow  length  along,  he  stood  alone 
in  England,  siding  more  and  more  with  the  Pope, 
who  was  to  him  the  embodiment  of  law  and  right  in 
a  world  of  tyranny  and  wrong. 

In  1098  Anselm  was  at  Eome,  waiting  the  results 
of  his  appeal  to  Pope  Urban  II.  against  William 
Eufus.  But  the  air  of  Eome  was  unwholesome  to 
one,  who,  though  Piedmontese  by  birth,  was  accus- 
tomed to  a  northern  climate.  He  therefore  visited 
Abbot  John  of  St  Sal  vat  or,  a  former  monk  of  Bee, 
now  the  ruler  of  a  monastery  at  Telesia,  between 
Benevento  and  Capua.  On  the  higher  slopes  of  the 
neighbouring  mountains  was  a  village  called  Schlavia, 
to  which  the  monks  resorted  in  the  summer  months. 
To  this  beautiful  spot  Anselm  was  taken.  On  the 
hill-top,  in  the  crisp  mountain  air,  respited  from  his 
cares,  surrounded  by  the  simplicities  of  life  and  the 
charms  of  nature,  the  old  man's  heart  leaped  within 
him.  "This,"  he  broke  forth,  like  Gall,  in  the  words 
of  a  psalm  (cxxxii.,  verse  15),  "  shall  be  my  rest  for 
ever ;  here  will  I  dwell,  for  I  have  a  delight  therein." 
It  was  at  Schlavia  that  he  thought  out  and  composed 
his  famous  treatise,  Cur  Deus  Homo?  in  which  he 
discussed  the  rational  ground  of  the  Atonement,  and 
expounded  his  profound  and  original  view  of  the 
Incarnation. 


76  THE  MIDDLE  AGES 

In  the  protracted  struggle  between  Henry  II.  and 
Thomas  a  Becket,  the  same  issue  was  involved.  But 
the  sacrilege  of  Becket's  murder  at  Canterbury 
(Tuesday,  December  29th,  1170)  gave  the  temporary 
victory  to  the  Church  over  the  State. 

At  five  o'clock  on  a  winter's  evening,  the  monks 
were  singing  vespers  in  the  dimly-lighted  cathedral. 
Suddenly  came  the  news  that  soldiers  were  forcing 
their  way  into  the  cloisters  on  the  north  side  of 
the  building.  Becket  had  mounted  the  fourth  step 
of  the  staircase,  which  led  from  the  Chapel  of  St 
Benedict  to  the  choir  of  the  church,  when  the  four 
knights,  in  full  armour,  their  mail  hiding  their 
faces,  burst  into  the  building.  At  the  summons  of 
Fitzurse,  he  descended  into  the  transept,  and  in 
his  white  rochet,  a  cloak  and  hood  thrown  over 
his  shoulders,  faced  the  murderers.  A  blow  on 
the  head  from  Tracy  drew  blood.  As  the  arch- 
bishop wiped  the  stain  from  his  face,  he  said 
the  familiar  words,  "Into  Thy  hands  I  commend 
my  spirit"  (Ps.  xxxi,  verse  6).  The  deed  was 
soon  accomplished.  But  misfortunes  crowded  on 
the  king.  At  Avranches,  in  May  1172,  Henry  had 
done  penance  for  the  crime  of  his  adherents.  Yet 
troubles  seemed  only  to  increase,  and  at  Canterbury 
he  made  a  further  and  final  expiation.  On  July  12th, 
1174,  he  entered  the  streets  of  the  city,  walking 
barefoot, — naked,  except  for  a  shirt  and  cloak.  In 
the  cathedral,  he  kissed  the  stone  where  Becket  had 
fallen,  recited  the  penitential  psalm  against  wrath 
(Ps.  vi.),  prostrated  himself  before  the  tomb  of  the 
archbishop,  and  then,  placing  his  head  and  shoulders 
upon  it,  was  scourged  by  the  bishops,  abbots,  and 
each  of  the  eighty  monks  who  were  present.  His 


POPE  ALEXANDER  III.  77 

humiliation  was  so  profound,  that  the  chroniclers 
appeal  to  the  language  of  the  Psalms  to  describe  the 
impression  it  produced — "  The  mountains  trembled  at 
the  presence  of  the  Lord,"  "the  mountain  of  Canter- 
bury smoked  before  Him  who  touches  the  hills  and 
they  smoke." 

Yet  another  scene  in  the  struggle  between  Church 
and  State  is  illustrated  by  the  Psalms.  In  July  1177, 
the  long  conflict  between  Pope  Alexander  III.  and 
the  Emperor  Frederick  Barbarossa  drew  to  its  close. 
The  hand  of  God,  so  it  seemed  to  pious  minds,  struck 
down  the  German  Emperor  in  his  hour  of  triumph. 
Master  of  Rome,  he  had  forced  his  creature  into  the 
chair  of  St  Peter.  But  pestilence  destroyed  his  army. 
Disguised,  and  almost  alone,  Barbarossa  made  his 
way  by  an  unfrequented  pass  to  Germany.  The 
Lombard  League  supported  Alexander  III.  against 
his  rival  and  the  emperor;  the  battle  of  Legnano 
(May  29th,  1176)  broke  Barbarossa's  power,  and 
compelled  him  to  make  terms  with  the  Pope.  At 
Venice,  in  the  summer  of  1177,  Pope  and  emperor 
were  reconciled.  Himself  a  Sienese,  it  was  at  Siena 
that  Alexander  commemorated  his  triumph  in  the 
frescoes  with  which  Spinello  has  adorned  the  Sala  di 
Balia.  But  in  the  porch  of  St  Mark's  at  Venice  is 
another  record  of  the  scene.  Three  marble  slabs 
mark  the  spot  where  Barbarossa  humbled  himself 
before  his  enemy.  Legend  is  at  least  true  to  the 
spirit  of  the  conflict,  when  it  represents  the  Pope  as 
placing  his  foot  on  the  neck  of  the  kneeling  emperor, 
and  quoting  the  words  of  Ps.  xci.,  verse  13,  "Thou 
shalt  go  upon  the  lion  and  adder ;  the  young  lion 
and  the  dragon  shalt  thou  tread  under  thy  feet."  In 
this  case  the  Sienese  frescoes  may  have  bred  the 


78  THE  MIDDLE  AGES 

legend,  which  Rogers  uses  in  his  Italy  ("  St  Mark's 
Place"): 

"  In  that  temple  porch 
(The  brass  is  gone,  the  porphyry  remains), 
Did  Barbarossa  fling  his  mantle  off, 
And,  kneeling,  on  his  neck  receive  the  foot 
Of  the  proud  Pontiff— thus  at  length  consoled 
For  flight,  disguise,  and  many  an  aguish  shake 
On  his  stone  pillow." 

It  is  to  the  same  legend  that  Wordsworth  refers 
in  his  Ecclesiastical  Sonnets  (No.  xxxviii.) : 

"  Black  Demons  hovering  o'er  his  mitred  head, 
To  Caesar's  Successor  the  Pontiff  spake ; 
'  Ere  I  absolve  thee,  stoop !  that  on  thy  neck 
Levelled  with  earth  this  foot  of  mine  may  tread/ 
Then  he,  who  to  the  altar  had  been  led, 
He,  whose  strong  arm  the  Orient  could  not  check, 
He  who  had  held  the  Soldan  at  his  beck, 
Stooped,  of  all  glory  disinherited, 
And  even  the  common  dignity  of  man ! " 

Among  mediaeval  agencies  which,  like  the  unity 
of  the  Church,  fostered  the  intercourse  of  nations, 
bridged  the  distances  between  class  and  class,  and 
promoted  the  growth  of  the  idea  of  an  universal 
empire,  pilgrimages  and  the  crusades  were  powerful 
instruments.  In  both,  European  Christendom,  rich 
and  poor,  united  for  common  objects.  In  both,  the 
Psalms  were  at  work. 

Pilgrimages  to  Palestine  practically  began  with  the 
journey  of  the  Empress  Helena,  mother  of  Constan- 
tine  the  Great,  and  her  "  invention  "  of  the  true  Cross 
at  Jerusalem  (326).  A  few  years  later,  the  Bordeaux 
Pilgrim  wrote  the  first  Christian  guide-book  to  the 
Holy  Land ;  and  during  the  lifetime  of  Jerome,  pil- 
grims, fired  by  his  example,  or  attracted  by  his  fame, 


PILGRIMAGES  79 

greatly  increased  in  number.  Between  385  and  388, 
Silvia  of  Aquitaine  visited  the  Holy  Land,  and  even 
passed  beyond  the  bounds  of  the  Roman  Empire.  As 
they  journeyed  towards  their  goal,  pilgrims  sang 
together  three  psalms  at  the  canonical  hours,  and,  on 
reaching  Jerusalem,  their  first  act  was  to  ascend  the 
tower  of  David,  and  recite  the  whole  Psalter.  Saturated, 
as  they  were,  with  the  language  of  the  Psalms,  the  early 
pilgrims  brought  back  strange  reports  of  the  miracles 
which  were  worked  in  Palestine,  even  as  the  Psalmist 
had  foretold.  After  the  sun  was  up,  a  cloud  rose 
from  the  Hill  of  Hermon,  and  stood  over  the  church 
at  Jerusalem,  as  David  had  sung  of  the  dew  of 
Hermon  which  fell  upon  the  Hill  of  Sion.  So  says 
Antoninus  of  Placentia,  surnamed  the  Martyr,  who 
visited  Palestine  in  the  days  of  Justinian.  He  also 
relates  how,  during  the  Epiphany  festival,  at  the 
baptism  of  catechumens  on  the  banks  of  the  Jordan, 
when  the  waters  were  blessed,  the  river  returned  upon 
itself  with  a  roar ;  the  upper  part  stood  still  until  the 
ceremony  was  completed,  the  lower  part  running 
away  to  the  sea.  Thus,  as  David  had  said,  "Jordan 
was  driven  back."  His  contemporary  Theodosius,  in 
his  work  De  Situ  Terrce  Sanctce,  tells  how  "a  vine 
which  the  Lord  had  planted,"  close  to  the  field  where 
He  had  Himself  ploughed  a  furrow,  regularly  provided 
the  wine  for  the  Pentecostal  communion ;  how  the 
"little  hills"  had  walked  exulting  before  the  Lord, 
when  He  descended  to  Baptism,  even  as  David  had 
said,  "The  mountains  skipped  like  rams,  and  the 
little  hills  like  young  sheep  "  ;  and  how,  to  the  pious  eye 
of  the  traveller,  "  even  to  this  day  they  seemed  in  the 
act  of  jumping."  With  the  lapse  of  years,  religious 
fervour  cooled.  Mixed  motives  influenced  the  motley 


80  THE  MIDDLE  AGES 

crowds,  who,  with  knobbed  iron-shod  staves  in  their 
hands,  a  scrip  for  provisions  slung  at  their  sides,  their 
hats  and  clothes  studded  with  leaden  medals  and 
pewter  brooches,  journeyed  to  Walsingham  or  Canter- 
bury, to  E/ocamadour  or  Compostella,  and  even  to 
Rome  or  Jerusalem.  Some  travelled  barefoot,  or 
naked  but  for  their  shirts,  to  expiate  their  sins; 
others  toiled  wearily  in  the  hope  of  miraculous 
healing;  others  fulfilled  a  vow  made  in  sickness; 
some  protested  against  the  government  by  visiting 
the  shrine  of  a  canonised  rebel ;  others  became  pil- 
grims by  profession,  from  laziness,  for  the  pleasures 
of  the  journey,  from  love  of  adventure.  But  however 
great  may  have  been  the  abuses  which  were  satirised 
by  Langland  and  Wyclif,  by  the  author  of  Reynard 
the  Fox  and  Erasmus,  there  never  failed  to  be  numbers 
of  simple  devout  pilgrims,  who,  as  they  travelled 
singly  or  in  companies,  chanted  the  Psalms  on  the 
way  in  the  spirit  of  an  earlier  faith,  and  returned 
strengthened  and  consoled  by  beholding  the  mysterious 
object  of  their  pious  veneration. 

The  Crusades,  like  the  struggle  between  the 
temporal  and  spiritual  powers,  and  like  mediaeval 
pilgrimages,  were  necessarily  permeated  by  religious 
influences.  If  they  do  not  exclusively  belong  to  the 
domain  of  Church  History,  they  move  in  that  broad 
belt  of  twilight,  where  things  secular  and  things 
ecclesiastical  are  as  closely  associated  as  the  begin- 
nings of  night  or  day. 

There  were  but  few  of  the  battlefields  against  the 
Saracens  which  had  not  resounded  with  the  Venite 
(Ps.  xcv.),  the  battle-cry  of  the  Templars,  as,  in  after 
ages,  the  Psalms  supplied  the  war-shout  of  John 
Sobieski,  the  motto  of  the  Great  Armada,  the  watch- 


THE  CRUSADES  81 

words  of  Gustavus  Adolphus  and  of  Cromwell,  the 
Marseillaise  of  the  Huguenots  and  the  Cevenols.  From 
the  Psalms  the  Crusade  was  preached  by  St  Bernard, 
who  made  special  use  of  Ps.  cxliv.  ("Blessed  be  the 
Lord  my  strength,"  etc.),  and  Ps.  cxvi.,  verse  13 
("Right  dear  in  the  sight  of  the  Lord  is  the  death  of 
His  saints.")  When,  on  October  3rd,  1187,  Jerusalem 
was  again  taken  by  Saladin,  it  was  once  more  from 
the  Psalms  that  Pope  Clement  III.  urged  the  bishops 
to  preach  another  Holy  War  (Ps.  cxxvii.,  "  Except  the 
Lord  build  the  house,"  etc.)  Baldwin,  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury,  responded  to  the  appeal,  donned  the  White 
Cross  of  England,  raised  the  banner  of  St  Thomas,  and 
preached  the  Crusade  in  Wales,  chanting  the  Psalms 
as  the  war- song  of  his  recruits.  At  the  head  of  his 
troop,  he  left  England,  March  6th,  1190,  eager  to  win 
back  "the  sepulchre  of  Christ,"  and 

To  chase  these  Pagans,  in  those  holy  fields, 
Over  whose  acres  walked  those  blessed  feet, 
Which  fourteen  hundred  years  ago  were  nail'd 
For  our  advantage  on  the  bitter  cross.* 

From  the  first  he  was  doomed  to  disappointment. 
In  the  language  of  the  Psalms,  his  chaplain  sums  up 
the  archbishop's  horror  at  the  licentiousness  of  the 
Crusaders'  host.  "  God,"  he  says,  "  is  not  in  the  camp. 
There  is  none  that  doeth  good,  no  not  one  "  (Ps.  xiv., 
verse  2).  In  his  despair,  the  archbishop  prayed  for 
death,  in  words  that  plainly  allude  to  another  Psalm 
(cxviii.,  verse  18),  "  O  Lord,  my  God !  such  need  is 
there  for  chastening  and  correcting  with  Thy  holy 
grace,  that,  if  it  please  Thy  mercy,  I  pray  to  be 
removed  from  the  turmoil  of  this  life.  I  have  tarried 
long  enough  with  this  army."  Fifteen  days  later  (19th 

*  Henry  IV.,  Part  I.,  Act  1,  scene  i. 


82  THE  MIDDLE  AGES 

November  1190),  he  died  at  Acre.  In  the  words  of 
a  psalm,  Richard  I.  poured  out  his  indignation,  when 
he  found  himself  deserted  by  his  followers,  and  knew 
that  the  crusade  had  failed,  "  My  God,  why  hast  Thou 
forsaken  me?"  (Ps.  xxii.,  verse  1).  After  the  battle 
of  Agincourt  (1415)  the  English  army,  fresh  from 
victory,  sang  on  bended  knees  the  first  verse  of 
Psalm  cxv.  ("Not  unto  us,  O  Lord,  not  unto  us,  but 
unto  Thy  Name  give  the  praise  "),  which  Henry  IV. 
had  given  to  his  son  as  a  motto  when  he  called  him 
to  a  share  in  the  government  of  his  kingdom.  It  was 
a  psalm  that  reminded  the  victor  of  his  life-long  ambi- 
tion. As  Psalm  li.  was  read  to  Henry  V.  on  his  death- 
bed, verse  18,  "O  be  favourable  and  gracious  unto 
Sion ;  build  Thou  the  walls  of  Jerusalem,"  reminded 
the  dying  king  of  his  cherished  hope  of  rescuing  the 
Holy  City  from  the  hands  of  the  Mussulman. 

More  strongly  political  than  the  Holy  War  in 
Palestine,  were  the  struggles  by  which  Spain  was 
wrested  from  the  Moors,  or  Eussia  from  its  Mongol 
oppressors,  and  from  each  may  be  quoted  instances 
of  the  use  of  the  Psalms. 

Adelme,  Abbot  of  the  Benedictine  House  of 
Chaise-Dieu,  accompanied  the  army  of  Alphonso  the 
Valiant,  first  King  of  Castile,  who  in  1085  had  driven 
the  Moors  from  Toledo.  At  the  passage  of  the  Tagus, 
the  Christian  soldiers  recoiled  from  entering  the 
swollen  flood.  But  Adelme,  mounted  on  his  ass, 
rode  into  the  stream,  singing  the  7th  verse  of  Ps.  xx., 
"  Some  put  their  trust  in  chariots,  and  some  in  horses ; 
but  we  will  remember  the  Name  of  the  Lord  our  God." 
His  courage  shamed  the  hesitating  soldiers;  they 
plunged  into  the  stream,  and  the  whole  Christian 
army  crossed  the  river.  The  final  stage  of  the 


DEMETRIUS  OF  THE  DON  83 

struggle  was  reached  in  1510,  when  Cardinal  Ximenes 
in  full  pontificals  led  the  Spanish  troops  against  the 
Moors  at  Oran.  The  town  was  captured,  and  the 
victorious  cardinal  rode  through  the  streets,  chanting 
Ps.  cxv.,  "  Not  unto  us,  O  Lord,  not  unto  us,  but  unto 
Thy  Name  give  the  praise." 

In  the  latter  half  of  the  fourteenth  century,  the 
young  Demetrius,  as  a  child  of  twelve,  became  Grand 
Prince  of  Russia,  with  Moscow  for  his  capital  (1363). 
Two  centuries  were  yet  to  elapse  before  Ivan  the 
Terrible  was  crowned  and  anointed  first  Czar  of  Mus- 
covy. But  it  was  under  the  youthful  Demetrius,  known 
from  his  victory  by  the  title  of  "  the  Don,"  that  Russia 
made  her  first  great  step  towards  national  independ- 
ence and  national  unity.  In  1380,  the  Tartar  hordes, 
leaving  blackened  solitudes  in  their  rear,  were  advanc- 
ing upon  Moscow.  For  Russia,  enervated  by  Mongol 
domination,  torn  by  civil  discord,  hard  pressed  on  her 
western  borders,  and  menaced  by  invasion  from  the 
east,  the  crisis  was  supreme.  The  issue  seemed  in- 
evitable. But  it  was  as  a  Holy  War  that  resistance 
was  preached.  Blessed  by  Sergius,  the  hermit  of  the 
Holy  Trinity,  Demetrius,  advanced  to  meet  Mamai  and 
the  Mongol  invaders  on  the  banks  of  the  Don  (Sep- 
tember 8th,  1380).  If  his  heart  quailed  at  the  numbers 
of  the  enemy,  it  was  with  a  psalm  that  he  renewed  his 
courage.  After  reading  aloud  Ps.  xlvi.,  "  God  is  our 
refuge  and  strength,"  he  plunged  into  the  fight,  which 
ended  in  the  total  defeat  of  the  Tartars  at  Koulikoff. 
The  memory  of  the  victory  lives  in  contemporary 
literature,  in  pictures  and  sculptures,  in  the  Donskoi 
and  SimonofF  monasteries,  and  in  the  legends  with 
which  national  gratitude  has  surrounded  the  names 
of  Sergius  and  of  Demetrius  of  the  Don. 


84  THE  MIDDLE  AGES 

In  their  devotional  aspect  the  Crusades,  like  pil- 
grimages, had  developed  a  reverential  love  for  the 
scenes  of  our  Lord's  life  on  earth.  In  theory  at  least, 
the  Pope  represented  the  moral  grandeur  of  mankind, 
and,  in  the  struggle  between  the  Papacy  and  the 
empire,  was  asserted  the  claim  of  the  spirit  to 
supremacy  over  the  flesh.  Meanwhile  the  millennium 
had  come  and  gone,  and,  with  its  passing,  hopes  of 
the  future  of  humanity  were  revived.  On  these  and 
other  sides,  men's  minds  were  disposed  to  religious 
revivals  and  religious  reforms,  like  those  associated 
with  the  Cistercian  or  Franciscan  Orders.  With  the 
need  came  the  men.  St  Bernard,  by  his  character  and 
genius,  exemplified  in  practice  the  principles  which 
he  maintained,  and  embodied  them  in  a  personality 
at  once  winning  and  commanding.  Free,  in  its  sim- 
plicity and  purity,  from  religious  or  secular  politics,  the 
Cistercian  reform  was,  in  its  early  stages,  the  spiritual 
movement  which  the  Christian  world  was  demanding. 
In  the  establishment  of  the  Cistercians  in  England 
may  be  traced,  broadly  and  strongly,  the  influence  of 
the  Psalms. 

The  Founder  of  the  Order  was  Stephen  Harding 
(1066-1134),  a  monk  of  the  Benedictine  house  of 
Sherborne.  It  is  significant  that,  as  he  made  his 
pilgrim's  journey  to  Rome  through  city,  forest,  or 
mountain  pass,  he  daily  recited  the  whole  Psalter. 
On  his  return,  as  he  passed  through  the  diocese  of 
Langres  in  Burgundy,  he  came  on  a  cluster  of  huts, 
surrounding  a  wooden  oratory  on  the  slope  of  a  hill 
above  the  river  Leignes.  It  was  the  newly  founded 
(1075)  Benedictine  monastery  of  Molesme.  Fasci- 
nated by  the  solitude  of  the  spot,  attracted  by  the 
poverty  and  strictness  of  the  brethren,  he  entered  the 


THE  CISTERCIAN  ORDER  85 

community.  Time  passed.  The  monastery  grew 
wealthy,  and  relaxed  its  discipline.  In  vain  Abbot 
Kobert,  Prior  Alberic,  and  Stephen  Harding  struggled 
to  revive  the  ancient  spirit.  At  last  they  determined 
to  leave  Molesme,  and  with  twenty-one  brethren,  the 
three  leaders  settled  (1098)  at  Citeaux,  in  the  marshy 
glade  of  a  wild  forest.  Here,  on  the  death  of  Alberic 
(1109),  Stephen  was  chosen  the  third  Abbot  of  Citeaux, 
and  here  he  framed  the  Eule  of  the  Cistercian  Order. 
Poverty,  solitude,  and  simplicity  were  the  essence 
of  the  reform  which  the  Order  initiated.  The  brethren 
were  thus  members  of  a  militant  community,  in  war- 
fare with  worldliness,  luxury,  and  insincerity,  both  in 
Church  and  State.  Unlike  the  Benedictines,  they 
were  compactly  organised.  They  were  not  isolated 
monastic  homes,  which  might  relapse  unnoticed  from 
their  high  ideals.  Careful  provision  was  made  for  the 
periodical  visitation  and  inspection  of  all  the  depen- 
dencies of  Citeaux,  as  well  as  of  Citeaux  itself.  The 
dress  was  of  the  simplest ;  but,  as  the  black  scapular 
fell  over  the  white  tunic,  it  seemed  to  the  brethren 
that  they  bore  in  daily  life  the  Cross  of  Christ.  Their 
life  was  to  be  passed  in  sequestered  villages,  in  hard 
manual  toil  among  vineyards  or  cornfields,  or  in  that 
meditation  which  "  gathers  itself  from  earthly  things 
to  contemplate  God."  Their  scanty  food — a  daily 
portion  of  bread  and  two  messes  of  vegetables — was 
earned  by  the  sweat  of  the  brow.  They  possessed  no 
property  which  had  ever  belonged  to  the  parochial 
clergy.  Their  churches  were  severely  simple,  but 
filled  with  the  austere  perfection  of  form  and  outline. 
Their  music  was  the  Gregorian  chant,  sung  in  unison 
by  grave  masculine  voices.  Instead  of  crucifixes  of 
gold  or  silver,  a  crucifix  of  painted  wood  was  alone 


86  THE  MIDDLE  AGES 

allowed.  Sculptures,  pictures,  gorgeous  vestments 
were  banished.  As  in  the  church,  so  in  the  scrip- 
torium. Illuminated  figures,  elaborate  capitals,  mar- 
ginal arabesques,  were  alike  forbidden. 

In  the  bareness,  severity,  and  simplicity  of  their 
religious  life,  the  Cistercians  made  no  appeal  to  imagi- 
nation. For  fifteen  years  no  novices  were  attracted 
to  the  marshy  solitude  of  Citeaux.  It  seemed  as 
though  the  new  community  would  perish  with  the 
deaths  of  its  first  founders.  But  Stephen  Harding 
persevered  in  his  resolution.  If  any  novices  came, 
they  would  be  men  of  the  right  stamp.  At  last  his 
confidence  was  rewarded.  In  1113,  thirty  men,  headed 
by  Bernard,  and  belonging  to  the  noblest  families  of 
Burgundy,  entered  Citeaux  as  novices.  The  "  barren 
woman"  was  made  "to  keep  house,  and  to  be  a  joy- 
ful mother  of  children."  In  1115  had  been  established 
the  daughter  houses  of  La  Ferte,  Pontigny,  Morimond, 
and  Clairvaux,  with  Bernard  as  its  first  abbot.  From 
each  there  sprang  a  whole  line  of  monasteries. 

In  the  Cistercian  cloisters  was  thus  planted  a  vine, 
which  spread  its  branches  far  and  wide,  and  bore  fruit 
in  many  lands.  A  new  life  was  breathed  into  the 
monasteries  of  Europe.  In  1128,  the  first  Cistercians 
settled  in  England,  at  Waverley,  in  Surrey.  A  little 
later,  another  body  of  monks,  sent  by  Bernard  himself, 
found  a  home  on  the  banks  of  the  Rye  in  Yorkshire, 
where  now  stand  the  ruins  of  the  Abbey  of  Bievaux. 
A  third  was  established  at  Fountains ;  and  the  story 
of  the  foundation,  as  told  by  the  Monk  Serlo  and 
Hugh  of  Kirkstall,  is  almost  clothed  in  the  language 
of  the  Psalms. 

The  fame  of  the  Cistercians  spread  abroad  through 
the  cloisters  of  Northern  England.  It  penetrated 


FOUNTAINS  ABBEY  87 

within  the  precincts  of  the  Benedictine  Abbey  of  St 
Mary  at  York,  where  lived  many  men  who  walked 
honestly  in  the  traditions  of  their  predecessors,  but 
fell  short  of  the  Cistercian  discipline.  The  piety  of 
the  new-comers  woke  the  Benedictines  from  their 
lethargy ;  it  stirred  their  dormant  energies.  They 
chafed  at  their  sojourning  "in  the  tents  of  Kedar," 
sickened  of  the  flesh-pots  of  Egypt,  wearied  of  the 
fret  and  fever  of  men  and  cities,  sighed  for  "  the  wings 
of  the  dove,"  that  they  "might  flee  away,  and  be  at 
rest."  They  longed  to  wander  "  far  off,  and  remain  in 
the  wilderness."  (Ps.  lv.,  verses  6,  7). 

Chief  of  the  men  who  were  thus  moved  by  the 
example  of  the  Cistercians  was  Richard,  the  sacrist 
of  the  house.  He  and  six  of  his  brethren,  like-minded 
with  himself,  entered  into  a  bond  that  they  would 
seek  a  stricter  life,  and  atone  for  past  remissness  by  a 
severer  discipline.  But  they  dared  not  reveal  their 
purpose  to  the  prior,  lest  he  should  bring  their  design 
to  nothing.  Their  fears  were  without  cause.  Prior 
Kichard  had  felt  the  same  stirring,  and  formed  the 
same  purpose.  He  gladly  associated  himself  with 
the  others,  whose  numbers  presently  rose  to  thirteen 
men  of  but  "one  heart  and  one  soul."  They  longed 
to  depart  from  the  convent,  and  to  be  grafted  on  the 
fruitful  vine  of  the  Cistercian  Order. 

But  their  design  became  known  to  other  members 
of  the  house,  and  reached  the  ears  of  the  aged  Abbot 
Godfrey.  He  charged  them  to  give  up  an  undertaking 
that  cast  a  slur  upon  their  Order.  He  even  threatened 
punishment,  if  they  persisted.  Within  the  convent 
they  were  treated  as  traitors  and  as  rebels,  and 
it  was  only  by  taking  refuge  within  the  church  and 
by  appealing  to  Turstin,  Archbishop  of  York,  that 


88  THE  MIDDLE  AGES 

they  escaped  violence.  In  1132,  the  thirteen  associates 
passed  through  the  gates  of  the  abbey  in  the  train  of 
Turstin,  who  begged  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  to 
protect  them,  as  Legate  of  the  Apostolic  See.  Their 
only  desire,  he  urged,  was  to  follow,  in  their  fullest 
meaning,  the  vows  of  their  profession.  The  spirit  of 
God,  he  says,  speaks  by  the  mouth  of  the  Psalmist. 
"  Promise  unto  the  Lord  your  God,  and  keep  it ;  pay 
thy  vows  unto  the  most  Highest ;  I  will  pay  thee  my 
vows  which  I  promised  with  my  lips."  The  luxury  of 
their  surroundings  had  choked  their  spiritual  aspira- 
tions. They  longed  to  flee  from  the  fate  of  the 
Israelites  in  the  desert,  who  "  did  eat  and  were  filled, 
for  He  gave  them  their  own  desire ;  they  were  not 
disappointed  of  their  lust."  If  these  men  felt  that 
they  could  not  live  uprightly  so  long  as  they  stayed 
where  they  were,  it  was  wrong  to  compel  them  to 
remain.  "God,"  he  continues,  "who  is  our  hope  and 
strength,  a  very  present  help  in  trouble,"  was  making 
them  a  way  to  escape.  Was  not  their  longing  to 
withdraw  from  the  world  like  that  of  David,  when  he 
yearned  to  escape  from  the  clash  of  arms  and  the 
tumult  of  the  people  :  "  Lo,  then  would  I  get  me  away 
far  off,  and  remain  in  the  wilderness  "  (Ps.  lv.,  verse  7)  ? 

Whether  the  legate  intervened,  or  not,  is  uncer- 
tain. But,  in  December  1132,  Turstin  himself  took 
the  brethren  with  him  to  celebrate  the  Nativity  on  his 
great  manorial  domains  at  Ripon.  The  next  day,  he 
led  them  along  the  valley  of  the  Skell  to  a  narrow 
glen,  in  a  tangled  thicket  of  thorns  and  brushwood, 
overhung  by  the  hill  of  Herles-how.  Here  he  left 
them,  after  giving  them  his  blessing,  and  confirming 
their  election  of  Prior  Richard  as  their  first  abbot. 

The  new  abbot  had  monks,  but  no  monastery. 


FOUNTAINS  ABBEY  89 

He  had  "nowhere  to  lay  his  head,"  no  hiding-place  in 
which  to  escape  the  "  stormy  wind  and  tempest " 
(Ps.  lv.,  verse  8).  Beneath  an  elm,  which  at  the  time 
of  the  dissolution  of  the  monasteries  was  still  standing, 
the  brethren  thatched  a  shelter  to  serve  as  church  and 
home,  and  betook  themselves  to  their  labours,  plaiting 
mats,  gathering  sticks,  cutting  stakes,  and  enclosing  a 
garden.  So  the  winter  passed.  The  new  community 
had  had  time  to  consider  their  future  mode  of  life  and 
form  of  discipline.  They  determined  to  send  to 
Bernard  himself,  narrating  their  simple  history,  and 
telling  him  that  they  had  adopted  the  Cistercian  Rule, 
had  chosen  him  as  their  spiritual  father  and  Clairvaux 
as  their  nursing  mother.  When  Bernard  heard  the 
story  of  the  two  brethren,  who  were  sent  to  him,  he 
excktifiied,  "It  is  the  finger  of  God.  Would  that  I 
myself  could  come  over,  and  behold  this  exalted  spec- 
tacle, which  makes  *  glad '  the  whole  '  City  of  God ' ' 
(Ps.  xlvi.,  verse  4).  His  letter  was  carried  to  the 
monks  of  Fountains  by  a  monk  of  Clairvaux,  who  was 
charged  to  instruct  them  in  the  Cistercian  Rule.  Thus 
was  founded  the  great  house  of  Fountains. 

Years  passed,  and  as  the  Benedictine  fervour  had 
cooled  from  its  early  glow,  so  the  Cistercian  discipline 
lost  its  pristine  simplicity.  Even  at  their  highest,  the 
ideal  of  both  had  been  the  withdrawal  from  the  world. 
Cloisters  were  the  realisation  of  the  beata  solitude  and 
the  sola  beatitudo.  To  timid  anxious  souls,  the  inviol- 
able sanctuaries  of  monastic  life  seemed  the  only 
refuge  from  the  pillage  and  pestilence  which  wasted 
the  fields,  the  only  barrier  against  the  stagnant  mass 
of  squalor,  famine,  and  disease  that  festered  in  the 
towns.  The  times  were  evil.  In  the  tearful  passion 
of  the  Stabat  Mater,  as  in  the  austere  grandeur  of 


90  THE  MIDDLE  AGES 

the  Dies  Irce,  were  expressed  the  fears  and  forebod- 
ings of  the  age.  But  hope  was  mingled  with  terror. 
Europe  seemed  to  be  thrilled  by  a  common  movement, 
and  Gioacchino  di  Fiore,  the  Calabrian  seer,  expressed 
the  popular  instinct,  that  the  dawn  was  whitening 
with  the  glory  of  a  day  which  should  usher  in  the  "  age 
of  the  spirit,"  the  "age  of  love,"  the  "age  of  lilies." 

Such  were  the  thoughts  with  which  the  air  of  Italy 
was  charged,  when  St  Francis  of  Assisi  grew  to  man- 
hood (1182-1226).  Artless,  almost  infantine,  in  the 
simplicity  of  his  nature,  he  was  the  gentlest  and  most 
blameless  of  mankind — the  saint  and  the  poet  of  a 
poetic  people.  From  the  moment  that  he  took  Poverty 
for  his  bride,  and  consecrated  his  life  to  Christ,  no 
temptation  ever  allured  him  from  his  inviolate  fidelity. 
Active  love,  not  contemplative  piety,  was  the  soul  of 
his  religion ;  practical  life,  not  the  seclusion  of  the 
cloister,  was  the  sphere  of  its  exercise.  The  father  of 
the  poor,  the  nurse  of  the  leper,  he  had  the  faith  to  see 
the  Divine  image,  and  the  charity  to  love  it,  even  in 
its  most  neglected  and  repulsive  tenements.  Though 
his  Brothers  Minor  developed  into  an  Order,  it  was  as 
a  protest  against  the  monastic  spirit  that  they  were 
originally  founded,  and  it  was  only  so  long  as  the 
Lady  Poverty  walked  among  the  sunburned  hills  of 
Umbria  with  a  free  step  by  the  side  of  Chastity,  and 
carolled  hymns  with  Obedience,  that  the  institution 
exemplified  the  idea  of  its  founder. 

The  call  of  Francis  came  to  him  in  the  words  of 
the  Gospel.  But  if,  as  is  recorded  of  him  in  Brother 
Leo's  Legend  of  the  Saint,  Francis  refused  to  allow  a 
novice  the  use  of  a  Psalter,  the  same  biographer  again 
and  again  illustrates  his  love  of  the  Psalms.  Thus  he 
ever  walked  upon  stones  "  with  great  trembling  and 


CANTICLE   OF  THE    SUN  91 

reverence "  for  the  love  of  Him  that  is  called  "  the 
Kock,"  repeating  the  words  "  Thou  didst  set  my  feet 
upon  the  rock  "  (Ps.  xl.,  verse  2).  On  Psalm  cxlviii.  is 
modelled  his  Canticle  of  the  Sun,  in  which  he  sums  up 
his  love  towards  all  created  things,  and  especially 
towards  those  in  which  he  saw  a  figure  of  anything 
pertaining  to  God  or  religion. 

"  Most  high,  almighty,  and  excellent  Lord,  to  Thee 
be  praise  and  glory  and  honour,  and  all  blessing !  To 
Thee  alone,  Most  High,  do  they  belong,  and  no  man 
is  worthy  to  name  Thy  name. 

"  Praised  be  Thou,  my  Lord,  with  all  Thy  creatures, 
and,  above  all,  our  Brother  the  Sun,  who  brings  to  us 
the  light  and  the  day.  Beautiful  is  he,  and  radiant  in 
his  glorious  splendour;  and  to  us,  Most  High,  he 
beareth  witness  of  Thee. 

"Praised  be  Thou,  my  Lord,  for  our  Sister  the 
Moon,  and  for  all  the  Stars.  In  the  heavens  Thou 
hast  set  them,  bright  and  precious  and  beautiful. 

"  Praised  be  Thou,  my  Lord,  for  our  Brother  the 
Wind,  for  the  air,  the  cloud,  the  calm,  and  all  weather, 
whereby  Thou  sustainest  life  in  all  Thy  creatures. 

"Praised  be  Thou,  my  Lord,  for  our  Sister  the 
Water,  for  manifold  are  her  services,  and  she  is  humble, 
precious,  and  pure. 

"  Praised  be  Thou,  my  Lord,  for  our  Brother  the 
Fire.  By  him  Thou  dost  lighten  our  darkness. 
Beautiful  is  he,  joyful,  very  mighty,  and  strong. 

"  Praised  be  Thou,  my  Lord,  for  our  Sister,  mother 
Earth,  who  doth  sustain  and  nourish  us,  and  bringeth 
forth  in  abundance  divers  fruits,  flowers  of  many 
colours,  and  grass. 

"Praised  be  Thou,  my  Lord,  for  those  who  for 
love  of  Thee,  forgive  their  enemies,  and  endure  weak- 


92  THE  MIDDLE  AGES 

ness  and  tribulation.  Yea,  blessed  are  those  who 
shall  continue  in  peace,  for  by  Thee,  Most  High,  shall 
they  be  crowned. 

"  Praised  be  Thou,  my  Lord,  for  our  Sister,  the 
Death  of  the  body,  from  whom  no  living  man  can 
escape.  Woe  to  those  who  die  in  mortal  sin  !  Blessed 
are  they  who  are  conformed  to  Thy  most  holy  will, 
for  the  second  death  shall  have  no  power  to  hurt  them. 

"  Praise  and  bless  my  Lord !  give  thanks  to  Him 
and  serve  Him  with  all  humbleness  of  heart."  * 

This  was  the  song  that  the  brethren  chanted  to 
the  dying  man,  while,  above  the  house  where  he  lay, 
multitudes  of  crested  larks,  circling  round  the  thatch, 
"  by  their  sweet  singing  did  seem  to  be  praising  the 
Lord  along  with  him."  As  he  had  lived,  so  he  died 
— in  the  arms  of  his  Lady  Poverty,  stripped  of  his 
clothing,  and  laid  on  the  bare  ground.  Psalms  were 
sung  to  him,  and  from  time  to  time  he  added  his  voice 
to  the  voices  of  his  brethren,  returning  with  special 
fondness  to  Psalm  cxlii. :  "  I  cried  unto  the  Lord  with 
my  voice ;  yea,  even  unto  the  Lord  did  I  make  my 
supplication,"  etc.  At  nightfall,  on  October  3rd,  1226, 
he  passed  away. 

Hitherto  the  influence  of  the  Psalms  has  been 
illustrated  from  religious  or  semi-ecclesiastical  history ; 
but  examples  are  not  wanting  in  the  more  purely 
secular  history  of  the  Middle  Ages.  They  moulded 
public  opinion,  and  created  a  standard  of  civil  govern- 

*  The  text  will  be  found  in  Sabatier's  Life  of  St  Francis  of  Assisi 
(tr.  L.  S.  Houghton,  1896,  adopting  M.  Arnold's  version),  pp.  304-5  : 

"  Altissimu,  omnipotente,  bon  signore, 
tue  so  le  laude  la  gloria  e  1'onore,"  etc. 

An  English  verse  translation  is  given  in  A  Vision  of  Saints,  by 
Lewis  Morris,  "  Saint  Francis  of  Assisi.' 


WILLIAM  THE  CONQUEROR  93 

ment.  With  them  are  associated  scenes  in  the  lives 
or  deaths  of  William  the  Conqueror,  Vladimir  Mono- 
machus,  David  I.  of  Scotland,  Abelard  and  Heloise, 
St  Louis  of  France,  and  William  Wallace. 

William  the  Conqueror  died  in  September  1087, 
in  circumstances  which  moved  the  historian,  Orderi- 
cus  Vitalis,  to  moralise  in  the  language  of  the  Psalms. 
The  aggressions  of  Philip  of  France,  and,  as  the  story 
runs,  the  jest  which  he  had  aimed  at  the  unwieldy 
size  of  the  English  king,  aroused  the  latter's  wrath. 
Claiming  as  his  own  the  borderland  of  France  and 
Normandy,  William  swore  by  the  resurrection  and 
splendour  of  God,  that  he  would  light  a  hundred 
thousand  candles  at  the  expense  of  Philip.  He  kept 
his  word.  Cornfields,  vineyards,  and  orchards  blazed 
up  to  the  gates  of  Mantes,  and  the  border  fortress 
itself  lay  a  heap  of  burning  ashes.  In  his  hour  of 
triumph,  William  received  his  death-wound.  His 
horse,  stumbling  among  the  embers,  threw  the  king 
upon  the  iron  pommel  of  his  saddle  with  such  force 
that  he  received  a  fatal  injury.  Carried  to  Rouen  to 
die,  he  caused  himself  to  be  conveyed  from  the  noise 
of  the  city  to  the  Abbey  of  St  Gervais.  In  the  early 
morning  of  September  9th,  the  great  bell  of  the 
cathedral  went  for  prime.  The  king  asked  what  it 
meant.  When  he  received  the  answer,  he  stretched 
forth  his  arms,  raised  his  eyes  to  heaven,  commended 
himself  to  his  Lady  Mary,  the  Holy  Mother  of  God, 
that,  by  her  intercession,  she  would  reconcile  him  to 
her  dear  Son,  Jesus  Christ,  and  so  breathed  his  last. 
His  attendants  hastily  mounted  their  horses,  and  rode 
at  speed  to  secure  their  houses  and  lands.  His 
servants,  after  stripping  the  body  of  the  dead  king, 
made  off,  "like  kites  with  their  prey."  "In  a  house 


94  THE  MIDDLE  AGES 

not  his  own,  foully  stripped  by  his  servants,  there  lay 
on  the  bare  floor,  from  the  first  to  the  third  hour  of 
the  day,  the  body  of  the  mighty  king,  whom,  but  now, 
a  hundred  thousand  warriors  had  eagerly  served,  and 
before  whom  many  nations  had  trembled  in  fear." 
"Put  not  your  trust  in  princes,"  moralises  the 
chronicler,  Ordericus  Vitalis,  whose  pages  teem  with 
passages  from  the  Psalms,  "  which  are  nought,  O  ye 
sons  of  men ;  but  in  God,  the  Living  and  the  True, 
who  is  the  Maker  of  all.  If  riches  increase,  set  not 
your  heart  upon  them.  For  all  flesh  is  grass,  and  all 
the  glory  of  it  as  the  flower  of  grass.  The  grass 
withereth,  and  the  flower  thereof  fadeth  away ;  but 
the  word  of  the  Lord  endure th  for  ever." 

With  the  baptism  of  St  Vladimir  at  Cherson,  and 
that  of  his  whole  people,  in  the  waters  of  the  Dnieper 
at  Kieff,  in  988,  had  begun  the  history  of  Eussia.  A 
century  later,  in  Vladimir  Monomachus,  who  is  said 
to  have  married,  as  his  first  wife,  Gytha,  the  daughter 
of  Harold  of  England,  Russia  came  into  contact  with 
the  remotest  power  of  Western  Europe.  When,  in 
1113,  Vladimir  became  the  Great  Prince  at  Kieff,  he 
was  instructed  by  the  Patriarch  Nicephorus  in  his 
duties  as  a  ruler.  The  lesson  was  a  comment  on 
Ps.  ci.,  with  an  exhortation  to  get  it  by  heart,  to  recite 
it  often,  to  meditate  upon  it,  and  by  it  to  fashion  his 
government.  "My  song,"  so  begins  the  letter,  "shall 
be  of  the  duties  of  my  station ;  of  mercy  and  judgment ; 
first,  of  mercy,  that  is,  of  tender  fatherly  care  for  the 
welfare,  spiritual,  moral,  and  temporal,  of  all  my 
subjects;  and  then,  also,  of  judgment,  that  is,  of 
doing  true  justice  between  man  and  man,  of  the 
restraint  of  wickedness  and  vice,  and  of  the  punish- 
ment of  wrongdoers,  both  for  their  own  chastisement 


VLADIMIR  MONOMACHUS  95 

and  for  the  good  of  their  fellows.  Unto  Thee,  O  Lord, 
will  I  sing.  Unto  Thee  will  I  lift  up  my  heart  in 
meditation.  I  will  not  follow  any  other  guide  in  my 
rule.  I  will  not  look  to  the  tempter,  though  he  offer 
me  all  the  kingdoms  of  the  world ;  nor  to  the  idols  of 
ambition,  glory,  praise  of  men,  love  of  country,  civilisa- 
tion, knowledge,  progress;  nor  yet  to  any  selfish 
motives  of  pleasure,  passion,  ease.  But,  with  fear 
and  love,  will  I  offer  my  thoughts,  my  motives,  my 
designs,  my  deeds,  my  meditations,  my  prayers  unto 
Thee,  O  Lord ;  for  Thou  art  my  King  and  my  God, 
and  I  am  Thy  servant.  For  Thy  sake  only,  and 
because  it  is  Thy  will,  I  will  strive,  with  Thy  help,  to 
rule  my  fellow-men,  my  brethren,  whom  otherwise  I 
would  choose  to  serve.  So  shall  I  have  understanding 
in  the  way  of  godliness." 

In  the  spirit  of  the  psalm  Vladimir  ruled  his 
subjects.  With  all  his  faults,  there  burned  within 
him  a  spark  of  manly  goodness,  which  lights  up  his 
dying  injunctions  to  his  son,  and  draws  its  heat  from 
the  Psalter.  After  describing  the  wonders  of  creation 
and  the  goodness  of  the  Creator,  in  the  words  of  David, 
Vladimir  thus  proceeds  :  "  Praise  God  and  love  men. 
Neither  fasting,  nor  solitude,  nor  monastic  life  will 
bring  you  life  eternal ;  but  doing  good  alone.  Forget 
not  the  poor ;  feed  them.  Remember  that  all  riches 
come  from  God,  and  are  given  you  but  for  a  while. 
...  Be  fathers  to  the  fatherless ;  judge  the  cause  of 
widows ;  suffer  not  the  strong  to  oppress  the  weak. 
.  .  .  My  brethren  said  to  me,  '  Help  us  to  drive  out 
the  sons  of  Rostislaf,  or  else  give  up  our  alliance/  But, 
I  said,  'I  cannot  forget  that  I  have  kissed  the  Cross/ 
Then  I  opened  the  Book  of  Psalms,  and  read  there 
with  deep  stirring  of  the  heart,  'Why  art  thou  so 


96  THE  MIDDLE  AGES 

vexed,  O  my  soul,  and  why  art  thou  so  disquieted 
within  me  ?  Put  thy  trust  in  God.  I  will  confess  my 
faults,  and  He  is  gracious.' ' 

Peter  Abelard,  in  1114,  was  the  most  famous 
teacher  in  Paris,  then  the  most  renowned  school  in 
Europe.  The  idol  of  the  city,  he  had  reached  the 
pinnacle  of  worldly  success.  Then  began  his  fatal 
passion  for  Heloise.  The  lovers  were  separated ;  on 
Abelard  a  barbarous  vengeance  was  taken,  and 
Heloise  was  immured  in  a  convent.  It  is  doubtful 
whether  they  ever  met  again. 

On  the  banks  of  the  Ardusson,  in  a  quiet  side- 
valley,  twelve  miles  from  Troyes,  Abelard  built  the 
oratory  of  the  Paraclete.  There  he  passed  several 
years,  till,  in  1125,  he  was  invited  to  be  abbot  of  the 
ancient  Abbey  of  St  Gildas  de  Ehuys,  near  Vannes. 
He  accepted  the  offer,  moved,  perhaps,  by  memories 
of  his  boyish  studies  at  the  dependent  monastery  of 
Locmenach.  Meanwhile  Heloise  and  her  nuns  had 
been  driven  from  Argenteuil.  When  Abelard  heard 
that  she  was  a  wanderer  once  more,  he  made  over  to 
her  and  her  nuns  his  deserted  hermitage  of  Paraclete. 
There,  by  "  Paraclete's  white  walls  and  silver  springs," 
the  love  of  Heloise  for  Abelard  once  more  broke 
silence.  Pope  was  right  in  thinking  that  her  life 
could  never  have  been 

"The  blameless  vestal's  lot, 
The  world  forgetting,  by  the  world  forgot"; 

that  Abelard's  image  may  have  often  stolen  between 
her  and  her  God ;  that  she  may  have  heard  his  voice 
in  every  psalm,  or  dropped  with  every  bead  too  "  soft 
a  tear."  But  be  this  as  it  may,  Abelard's  mournful 
autobiography,  the  Historia  Calamitatum,  fell  into  her 


ABELARD  AND  HELOISE  97 

hands.  The  grave  of  her  past  was  reopened  by  the 
story  of  his  sufferings,  and  Heloise  wrote  to  "  her  lord, 
yea,  her  father;  to  her  husband,  yea,  her  brother; 
from  his  handmaid,  yea,  daughter ;  from  his  wife,  yea, 
his  sister ;  to  Abelard  from  Heloise."  Abelard  answers 
her  tender  words,  if  the  letters  are  genuine,  in  the 
language  of  a  man  to  whom  all  earthly  things  had 
grown  cold  and  colourless.  To  her  second  letter  he 
replies  by  sending,  at  her  request,  rules  for  her  convent. 
At  the  close  of  his  answer,  he  exhorts  her  to  patience 
and  resignation,  concluding  with  a  prayer,  in  which 
he  betrays  the  depth  of  his  own  feeling,  and  definitely 
quotes  from  the  Psalter  : 

"Forgive,  O  most  Merciful!  forgive,  O  Mercy 
itself !  our  sins,  great  as  they  are ;  and  may  the 
multitude  of  our  offences  know  the  height  and  breadth 
of  Thy  unspeakable  clemency.  Chastise  the  guilty 
here,  that  Thou  mayest  spare  them  hereafter.  Punish 
them  for  a  time,  that  Thou  mayest  spare  them  for 
3ternity.  Use  against  Thy  servants  the  rod  of  cor- 
rection, not  the  sword  of  wrath.  Afflict  the  body, 
:hat  Thou  mayest  save  the  soul.  Cleanse,  avenge  not ; 
be  gentle  rather  than  just ;  a  merciful  Father,  rather 
:han  an  austere  Lord.  '  Examine  us,  0  Lord,  and 
prove  us/  as  the  prophet  asked  for  himself  (Ps.  xxvi. 
2).  It  is  as  if  he  said,  '  Examine  the  strength  there  is, 
ind  suit  the  burden  of  temptation  to  it/  ...  Thou 
aast  joined  us,  O  Lord,  and  hast  set  us  apart,  when  it 
oleased  Thee,  and  as  it  pleased  Thee.  Now,  O  Lord, 
:hat  which  Thou  hast  begun  in  mercy,  do  Thou  in 
nercy  perfect,  and  those  whom  Thou  hast  severed  in 
lie  world,  join  for  ever  unto  Thyself  in  Heaven.  O 
Lord,  our  hope,  our  portion,  our  expectation,  our 
consolation,  who  art  blessed  for  ever.  Amen. 

G 


98  THE  MIDDLE  AGES 

"Farewell  in  Christ,  thou  Spouse  of  Light,  in 
Christ  farewell,  in  Christ  live  !  Amen." 

Contemporary  with  Vladimir  Monomachus  and 
with  Abelard,  was  David  I.,  the  just  and  merciful 
ruler  of  Scotland,  who  died  May  24th,  1153.  As 
Ailred  of  Kievaulx  tells  the  story  of  his  death,  the 
king  received  the  viaticum,  venerated  the  famous  black 
cross,  and  spent  his  last  hours  of  conscious  existence 
in  repeating  verses  from  the  Psalms  :  "  I  deal  with  the 
thing  that  is  lawful  and  right :  O  give  me  not  over 
unto  mine  oppressors  "  (Ps.  cxix.,  verse  121),  and  "  In 
the  time  of  my  trouble  I  will  call  upon  Thee,  for  Thou 
hearest  me  "  (Ps.  Ixxxvi.,  verse  7). 

By  a  psalm  St  Louis  of  France  regulated  his  life. 
Before  taking  the  seat  of  judgment,  he  was  wont  to 
repeat  the  words  :  "  Blessed  are  they  that  alway  keep 
judgment,  and  do  righteousness "  (Ps.  cvi.,  verse  3). 
The  Mass  for  the  first  Sunday  in  Advent  began  with 
the  words,  "  Unto  Thee,  O  Lord,  will  I  lift  up  my  soul. 
My  God,  I  have  put  my  trust  in  Thee"  (Ps.  xxv., 
verse  1).  On  that  day  Louis  was  crowned  (1226). 
Joinville,  who  notes  the  fact,  observes  that  even  in 
his  death  the  king  had  perfect  trust  in  God.  It  was 
with  a  psalm  on  his  lips  that  Louis  died.  In  July 
1270,  he  had  taken  the  Cross,  and  embarked  at  Aigues 
Mortes  for  Africa.  Before  the  walls  of  Tunis,  the 
climate  and  the  plague  did  their  deadly  work.  At 
last  Louis  IX.  himself  was  struck  down  by  sickness. 
Three  weeks  he  lingered.  On  August  25th,  1270,  laid 
on  a  bed  of  ashes,  he  died,  murmuring  the  words  of 
Ps.  v.,  verse  7,  "But  as  for  me,  I  will  come  into 
Thine  house,  even  upon  the  multitude  of  Thy  mercy ; 
and  in  Thy  fear  will  I  worship  toward  Thy  holy 
temple." 


WILLIAM  WALLACE  99 

At  the  execution  of  William  Wallace,  the  dying 
patriot  found  comfort  in  the  Psalter,  which  had 
been  the  companion  of  his  adventurous  wanderings. 
Betrayed  to  the  English  by  the  "fause  Menteith,"  tried 
for  treason  in  Westminster  Hall,  he  was  executed  at 
West  Smithfield  (August  23rd,  1305)  with  all  the 
barbarities  of  the  age.  As  he  stood  on  the  scaffold, 
in  the  midst  of  the  instruments  for  his  torture,  he 
begged  Lord  Clifford  to  restore  to  him  the  Psalter, 
which  had  been  taken  from  him  at  his  capture.  The 
prayer  was  granted.  Unable  to  hold  the  book  in  his 
chained  hands,  he  asked  a  priest  to  keep  it  open  for 
him,  and,  as  he  hung  from  the  gallows,  he  continued 
to  look  on  it  with  love  and  devotion.  After  he  was 
taken  down  and,  still  alive  and  sensible,  disembowelled, 
his  eyes  remained  fixed  upon  the  Psalter,  until  they 
closed  in  death. 

Nor  was  it  only  in  mediaeval  action  that  the  influ- 
ence of  the  Psalms  may  be  traced.  Mediaeval  thought 
also  fell  under  their  spell.  The  science  and  the 
literature  as  well  as  the  history  of  the  Middle  Ages 
felt  their  sway. 

By  the  Psalms  the  science  of  the  Middle  Ages 
was  to  a  great  extent  governed.  The  earth,  argued 
mediaeval  cosmogonists,  cannot  be  in  motion,  or 
suspended  in  mid-air;  rather,  it  is  firmly  fixed,  for 
"  He  hath  made  the  round  world  so  fast  that  it  can- 
not be  moved  "  (Ps.  xciii.,  verse  2),  and  "  He  laid  the 
foundations  of  the  earth  that  it  never  should  move 
at  any  time "  (Ps.  civ.,  verse  5).  And  its  centre  is 
Jerusalem.  The  column  in  the  Holy  City,  at  midday, 
casts  no  shadow,  and  "  God  is  in  the  midst  of  her, 
therefore  shall  she  not  be  removed  "  (Ps.  xlvi.,  verse 
5).  On  the  text,  "  Praise  him,  all  ye  heavens  ;  and  ye 


100  THE  MIDDLE  AGES 

waters  that  are  above  the  heavens  "  (Ps.  cxlviii.,  verse 
4),  were  built  strange  theories.  Heaven  was  divided 
into  two  by  the  firmament,  which  lay  between  our 
atmosphere  and  the  Paradise  of  God.  Below  the 
firmament  lived  the  angels ;  above  it  were  the  waters. 
Jerome  held  that  the  waters  were  frozen ;  Ambrose 
believed  that  the  outside  firmament  was  a  hard  shell, 
on  the  outer  edge  of  which  were  stored  the  waters ; 
some  thought  that  the  terrestrial  universe  was  sur- 
rounded by  huge  walls,  on  which  were  supported  the 
firmament  and  the  waters  they  contained.  The  pur- 
pose for  which  the  waters  were  collected,  was  disputed. 
It  was  believed  that  they  were  gathered  for  another 
deluge,  or  to  moderate  the  fervent  heat  of  the  heavenly 
bodies,  or  to  lubricate  the  axis  on  which  the  heavens 
moved  round  the  earth.  In  the  air  exhaled  from  the 
earth  were  lightning  and  hail,  snow  and  vapours,  wind 
and  storm  (Ps.  cxlviii.,  verse  8).  Earthquakes  were 
explained  from  Psalm  cxxxv.,  verse  7,  by  the  winds 
being  drawn  from  God's  secret  treasuries,  or  by  the 
motions  of  Leviathan  (Ps.  civ.,  verse  26),  who,  when 
his  tail  is  scorched  by  the  sun,  seeks  to  seize  it,  and 
labours  so  powerfully  that  the  earth  is  shaken  by  his 
efforts.  The  rise  and  fall  of  tides  was  explained  by 
his  drinking  in  and  spewing  out  vast  volumes  of  water. 
With  a  strange  mixture  of  Pagan  with  Christian 
thought,  it  was  supposed  that  the  powers  of  the  air 
could  produce  thunder,  lightning,  and  rain,  and  against 
their  baneful  influences  the  favourite  exorcism  was 
Psalm  civ. 

Of  the  monastic  spirit  in  literature,  the  De  Imita- 
tione  Christi  is  the  finest  product.  The  writer,  accord- 
ing to  some  of  the  best  authorities,  was  Thomas 
Haemmerlein,  called,  as  was  the  custom  of  the  day, 


THOMAS  A  KEMPlS 

a  Kempis,  from  the  small  town  of  Kempen,  near 
Dusseldorf.  A  little,  fresh-coloured  man,  simple  in 
worldly  affairs,  shy  and  retiring  in  his  habits,  too 
absent-minded  to  be  long  entrusted  with  any  practical 
part  of  the  government  of  the  convent  of  Mount  St 
Agnes,  Thomas  a  Kempis  was  given,  as  a  biographer 
says  of  him,  "to  the  interior  life  and  devotion."  In 
solitude,  silence,  and  humility,  he  bowed  himself 
before  his  Saviour,  that  so  he  might  catch  the  faint- 
est whisper  of  His  voice,  and  conform  himself,  with- 
out hindrance  of  earthly  barriers,  to  its  slightest 
command.  The  fruit  of  that  close  personal  com- 
munion is  the  wonderful  book,  in  which  throbs  the 
spiritual  heart  of  mediaeval  Christianity.  From  the 
nature  of  its  subject,  the  Imitation  might  be  expected 
to  rely  mainly  on  the  New  Testament.  But  in  thought, 
feeling,  and  language,  it  is  largely  based  on  the  Psalter. 
"  I  will  hearken  what  the  Lord  God  will  say  concern- 
ing me ;  for  He  shall  speak  peace  unto  His  people,  and 
to  His  saints,  that  they  turn  not  again  "  (Psalm  Ixxxv., 
verse  8)  supplies  the  keynote  to  the  third  book,  which 
treats  of  internal  consolation ;  and  throughout  the 
whole  work,  the  Psalms  are  more  largely  cited  than 
the  Gospels,  and  the  illustrations  from  the  Psalter 
outnumber  all  the  passages  which  are  quoted  from 
the  four  records  of  our  Lord's  life  upon  earth. 

The  religious  calm,  which,  together  with  the  most 
ardent  love,  characterises  the  Imitation,  was  not  lightly 
won.  In  his  Soliloquy  of  the  Soul,  Thomas  a  Kempis 
gives  the  history  of  his  inner  life,  and  chronicles  the 
perplexities  through  which  his  soul  gained  its  absolute 
peace.  The  book  is  in  great  part  an  impassioned  ex- 
pansion of  texts  drawn  from  the  Psalms,  such  as : 
"  Blessed  be  the  name  of  His  Majesty  for  ever  "  (Ps 


102  THE  MIDDLE  AGES 

Ixxii.,  verse  19) :  "All  my  bones  shall  say,  Lord,  who 
is  like  unto  Thee  ?  "  (Ps.  xxxv.,  verse  10) :  "  Say  unto 
my  soul,  I  am  thy  salvation  "  (Ps.  xxxv.,  verse  3) : 
"  My  soul  hangeth  upon  Thee  "  (Ps.  Ixiii.,  verse  9) : 
"  Praised  be  God,  who  hath  not .  . .  turned  His  mercy 
from  me  "  (Ps.  Ixvi.,  verse  18). 

Yet  another  illustration  of  the  influence  of  the 
Psalms  upon  devotional  literature  may  be  taken  from 
Thomas's  "Little  Alphabet  of  the  Monks  in  the 
School  of  Christ,"  a  series  of  short  precepts,  drawn 
up  for  those  who  wished  to  adopt  the  Eule  of  the 
brotherhood  of  the  Canons  Regular.  In  form  it  is 
modelled  on  the  119th  Psalm,  the  initial  letters  of  the 
precepts  running  consecutively  through  the  alphabet : 

"Aspire  to  be  unknown,  and  to  be  accounted  nothing;  for 
this  is  more  healthful  and  profitable  for  thee  than  the 
praise  of  men. 

<c  Be  benevolent  to  all  thy  fellows,  alike  to  the  good  and  to  the 
evil ;  and  be  burdensome  to  none. 

"  Care  for  it  that  thy  heart  be  kept  from  wandering  thoughts, 
thy  mouth  from  vain  speech,  thy  senses  under  discipline. 

"Dwell  in  solitude  and  silence,  and  therein  shalt  thou  find 
great  peace  and  a  good  conscience  ;  for  in  a  multitude  are 
much  noise  and  many  distractions  of  the  heart. 

"Elect  poverty  and  simplicity  and  be  content  with  a  few 
things,  and  thou  wilt  not  be  quick  to  complain. 

"  Flee  the  conversation  ot  worldly  men ;  for  with  both 
God  and  man,  with  things  both  transitory  and  eternal, 
thou  canst  not  be  satisfied." 

The  last  precept  runs  thus : 

"Zaccheus,  my  brother,  come  down  from  the  tree-tops  of 
knowledge.  Come  thou  and  learn  in  the  school  of  God 
the  way  of  humility,  of  meekness,  and  of  patience  ;  so,  by 
the  teaching  of  Christ,  wilt  thou  at  length  be  able  to 
attain  to  the  glory  of  eternal  blessedness." 


THE  DIVINA  COMMED1A  103 

In  the  sphere  of  devotional  literature,  the  De 
Imitatione  is,  as  has  been  said,  the  finest  fruit  of 
monasticism.  Compared  with  the  Divina  Commedia 
of  Dante,  it  marks  the  vivid  contrast  between  religious 
life  in  the  world  and  in  the  cloister.  Both  books  are, 
as  it  were,  studies  of  the  human  soul  in  its  passage 
from  darkness  to  light.  In  both,  Christian  theology 
strikes  the  keynote.  But  the  one  is  as  harmonious 
in  its  whole  as  the  other  is  incongruous  in  its 
details.  With  his  vision,  Dante  has  interwoven 
elements  which  the  De  Imitatione  seeks  to  exclude, 
or  feelings  that  it  hopes  to  crush.  In  the  Divina 
Commedia,  passionate  scorn  and  holy  mysteries  of 
faith,  coarse  satire  and  hymns  of  the  blessed,  con- 
temporary scandal  and  lofty  idealism,  the  most 
ardent  faith  in  the  Divine  government  of  the  world 
and  the  politics  of  the  day,  the  personal  bitter- 
ness of  private  wrongs  and  the  keenest  perception 
of  the  issues  of  good  and  ill  doing,  are  inextricably 
mingled. 

Dante's  admiration  of  the  Psalms  is  not  only 
shown  by  the  version  of  the  Seven  Penitential  Psalms, 
which  is  attributed  to  him.  It  is  also  again  and 
again  illustrated  from  his  great  Christian  poem,  which 
ushers  in  the  literature  of  Europe.  In  some  pas- 
sages he  refers  to  David  himself;  in  others  he  quotes 
from  the  Book  of  Psalms.  Thus,  after  he  had  passed 
the  threshold  of  the  gate  of  Purgatory  (Purgatorio, 
canto  x.,  1.  1,  and  follgi),  Dante  and  his  guide  climb 
upwards  by  a  rocky  ascent  to  the  lowest  circle,  where 
those  are  purified  who  have  sinned  through  pride. 
On  one  side  of  the  path  rises  a  precipitous  cliff  of 
white  marble,  curiously  adorned  with  sculptures 
commemorating  humility.  There  in  the  marble  were 


104  THE  MIDDLE  AGES 

carved  the  car  and  oxen,  drawing  the  sacred  ark, 
and  (11.  64-6) 

u  Preceding  the  blest  vessel,  onward  came 
With  light  dance  leaping,  girt  in  humble  guise, 
Sweet  Israel's  harper ;  in  that  hap  he  seemed 
Less,  and  yet  more,  than  kingly." 

Kuth,  on  her  throne  in  Paradise  (Paradiso,  canto 
xxxii.,  11.  10-12),  is  described  as 

"The  gleaner-maid, 

Meek  ancestress  of  him,  who  sang  the  songs 
Of  sore  repentance  in  his  sorrowful  mood." 

In  the  planet  Jupiter,  which  is  the  sixth  heaven, 
the  souls  of  those  who  have  rightly  administered 
justice  on  the  earth  are  disposed  in  the  figure  of  an 
eagle.  Those  that  glitter  in  the  eagle's  eye  are  the 
chief  and  greatest  (Paradiso,  canto  xx.,  11.  37-42),  and 
here  David  is  placed : 

"This  that  shines 

Midmost  for  pupil,  was  the  same  who  sang 
The  Holy  Spirit's  song,  and  bare  about 
The  ark  from  town  to  town ;  now  doth  he  know 
The  merit  of  his  soul-impassion'd  strains 
By  their  well-fitted  guerdon." 

In  other  passages  the  Psalms  are  quoted.  Cheered 
by  St  James,  Dante  lifts  his  eyes,  heretofore  bent  on 
the  ground  with  their  over-heavy  burden,  "To  the 
hills  from  whence  cometh  my  help  "  (Paradiso,  canto 
xxv.,  11.  37-39,  and  Ps.  cxxi.,  verse  1).  Hope  had 
first  come  to  him,  as  he  tells  St  James  (ibid.,  11.  71-5, 
and  Ps.  ix.,  verse  10) : 

"  From  him  who  sang 

The  songs  of  the  Supreme,  himself  supreme 
Among  his  tuneful  brethren.     '  Let  all  hope 
In  Thee/  so  spake  his  anthem, e  who  have  known 
Thy  name.' " 


DANTE  AND  BEATRICE  105 

At  an  earlier  stage  in  his  journey,  as  he  lingered 
by  the  shores  of  the  Island  of  Purgatory  (Purgatorio, 
canto  ii.,  11.  40-8),  Dante  sees  at  early  dawn  a  light 
bark,  without  oars  or  sails,  driven  swiftly  to  land  by  the 
wings  of  the  angel  who  stands  on  the  poop.  Within 
are  a  hundred  spirits  and  more,  who  sing  with  one 
voice  together  Ps.  cxiv.,  "When  Israel  came  out  of 
Egypt."  So  also  in  the  fifth  circle  (Purgatorio,  canto 
xix.,  11.  70-5,  and  Ps.  cxix.,  verse  25),  those  who  had 
sinned  from  avarice  and  prodigality,  lay  with  their 
faces  downwards,  prone  upon  the  ground,  weeping 
sore: 

" ( My  soul  hath  cleaved  to  the  dust/  I  heard, 
With  sighs  so  deep,  they  well-nigh  choked  the  words." 

Such  illustrations  might  be  multiplied ;  but  as  an 
example  of  the  use  which  Dante  makes  of  the  Psalms, 
directly  or  symbolically,  those  stanzas  of  the  Purga- 
torio  may  be  taken,  in  which  Beatrice  appears.  Dante 
has  passed  through  the  fire,  climbed  the  mountain,  and, 
followed  by  Virgil  and  Statius,  traverses  a  wood, 
bright  with  the  fresh  flowers  of  May.  Through  it 
floats  a  light  breeze,  ruffling  the  leaves  as  it  passes, 
scented  with  sweet  odours,  and  mingling  with  the 
songs  of  birds.  He  is  stopped  by  a  stream,  three 
paces  across.  In  a  meadow  on  the  opposite  side 
walks  Matilda,  singing  as  she  gathers  the  flowers  that 
paint  her  way.  Dante  wonders  at  the  brightness  of 
her  smile,  till  she  tells  him  that  she  is  gladdened  by 
the  verse  of  Ps.  xcii.,  beginning  "  Delectasti "  (Ps.  xcii., 
verse  4.),  "Thou,  Lord,  hast  made  me  glad  through 
Thy  works,"  etc.  ("  Quia  delectasti  me,  Domine,  in 
facturi  tuft-,  et  in  cperibus  manuum  Tuarum  exsultabo.") 
It  is  this  delight  in  God's  work,  and  labour  in  His 


106  THE  MIDDLE  AGES 

service,  that  make  the  perfect  happiness  of  active  life 
on  earth.  All  other  bliss  is  but  a  dream  that  closes 
with  death.  This  alone  is  the  waking  vision,  for  it 
is  the  pathway  and  vestibule  of  Heaven.  She  further 
explains  to  him  that  the  spot  is  the  earthly  Paradise, 
and  that  the  stream  by  which  he  stands  is  called  Lethe 
and  Eunoe,  because  its  twofold  properties  are  to  take 
away  the  memory  of  sin,  and  to  restore  the  recollec- 
tion of  every  good  deed.  Then  she  returns,  like  an 
enamoured  dame,  to  her  song  (Purgatorio,  canto  xxix., 
11.  1-3,  and  Ps.  xxxii.,  verse  1),  "Blessed  is  he  whose 
unrighteousness  is  forgiven,  and  whose  sin  is  covered." 
As  Matilda,  alone  on  the  one  bank,  and  the  three  poets 
on  the  other,  move  upwards  against  the  stream,  a 
great  brightness  flushes,  and  then  suddenly  floods, 
the  forest ;  sweet  melody  floats  through  the  luminous 
air ;  a  procession  of  figures  comes  into  view ;  and  a 
triumphal  car,  drawn  by  a  gryphon,  halts  over  against 
the  spot  where  Dante  stood.  The  poet  has  seen  the 
vision  of  the  perfect  active  life,  which  delights,  not  in 
its  own  labour,  but  in  God's  work.  Now  he  beholds 
the  perfect  contemplative  life,  which  may  be  lived  on 
earth  if  only  it  has  for  its  object,  not  its  own  beauty, 
but  God's  person  and  love  in  Christ.  On  the  car 
appears  Beatrice,  white-veiled,  olive-crowned,  strewn 
with  flowers,  and  clad  in  the  mystic  colours  of  Love, 
Faith,  and  Hope  (Purgatorio,  canto  xxx.,  11.  82-5,  and 
Ps.  xxxi.,  verses  1-9).  In  her  eyes  are  reflected  the 
twofold  nature  of  Christ,  and  she  bids  him  mark  her 
well ;  but  his  gaze  shrinks  from  her  stern  pity : 

"  And,  suddenly,  the  angels  sang, 
'  In  Thee,  O  gracious  Lord !  my  hope  hath  been/ 
But  went  no  further  than  '  Thou,  Lord,  hast  set 
My  feet  in  ample  room/  " 


VISION  OF  PIERS  PLOWMAN  107 

Chaucer  quotes  but  little  from  the  Psalms.  It 
may  be  taken  as  a  slight  proof  of  his  dramatic  in- 
sight that  he  is  careful  to  make  "Dame  Abstinence 
Streyned  "  (Romaunt  of  the  Rose,  1.  7366),  remember 
"  hir  Sawter "  as  part  of  her  disguise  of  a  Beguine ; 
and,  when  he  cites  the  Psalms,  he  places  his  quotations 
in  the  mouths  of  persons  like  the  Prioress,  who  begins 
the  prologue  of  her  tale  with  Ps.  viii.,  verses  1,  2  : 

" '  O  Lord,  our  Lord,  Thy  name  how  marveillous 
Is  in  this  large  world  y-sprad/ — quod  she," 

or  like  the  Parson,  the  Summoner,  and  the  "Frere." 
But  in  William  Langland  fourteenth -century  England 
had  her  people's  Dante.  Clad  in  hermit's  garb,  and 
sleeping  heavily  from  weariness  of  wandering,  Lang- 
land  saw  on  the  Malvern  Hills  the  Vision  of  Piers 
Plowman.  Far  inferior  to  the  great  Italian  in  grandeur 
of  conception  and  nobility  of  execution,  the  English 
poet  was  Dante's  rival  in  realistic  power.  He  paints 
with  a  wire  brush,  and  a  force  that  is  almost  fierce ; 
but  his  tender  sympathy  with  human  suffering  redeems 
the  harshness  of  his  rugged  lines,  and  gives  to  his  racy 
vigour  and  homely  language  something  of  spiritual 
intensity. 

That  Langland  should  clothe  much  of  his  Vision 
in  the  language  of  the  Psalms,  is  not  surprising.  Bred 
in  a  monastery,  he  lived  by  singing.  "  The  tools,"  he 
says,  "wherewith  I  labour  and  earn  my  bread  are 
Paternoster,  and  my  primer  Placebo  and  Dirige,  and 
sometimes  my  Psalter  and  my  Seven  Psalms."  As  the 
whole  world  of  men,  busy  with  their  varied  occupa- 
tions, pass  before  the  dreamer's  vision,  he  sees  that 
Bribery  is  all-powerful,  in  spite  of  what  David  had 
said  of  those  who  take  bribes :  "  Lord,  who  shall  dwell 


108  THE  MIDDLE  AGES 

in  Thy  tabernacle  ?  He  that  hath  not  taken  reward 
against  the  innocent "  (Ps.  xv.,  verses  1  and  6).  He 
sees  also  that  Justice  and  Favour  are  bestowed  on 
men  "in  whose  hands  is  wickedness/'  provided  that 
"their  right  hand  is  full  of  gifts  "  (Ps.  xxvi.,  verse  10). 
Yet,  evil  though  the  world  is,  Scripture  bids  men  not 
despair ;  no  offence  is  beyond  God's  pardon,  for  "  His 
mercy  is  over  all  His  works  "  (Ps.  cxlv.,  verse  9). 

In  sect,  v.,  the  dreamer  sees  again  the  "  field  full  of 
folk,"  where  the  sinners  are  induced  to  confess  and 
repent.  The  Deadly  Sins  make  their  penitential  oon- 
fession.  Eepentance  prays  for  the  penitents,  and  Hope 
seizing  a  horn,  blows  upon  it  (Ps.  xxxii.,  verse  1), 
"  Blessed  is  he  whose  unrighteousness  is  forgiven ;  and 
whose  sin  is  covered."  Then  all  together,  saints  in 
glory  and  men  on  earth,  cry  upward  "  to  Crist  and 
to  his  moder"  with  the  Psalmist  David,  "Thou, 
Lord,  shalt  save  both  man  and  beast ;  how  excellent 
is  Thy  mercy,  O  God  "  (Ps.  xxxvi.,  verse  7). 

In  sect,  xv.,  Langland  describes  Charity.  Biches, 
as  the  dreamer  reflects,  hinder  men  in  their  way 
towards  heaven ;  but  Poverty  is  the  gift  of  God,  and 
sweet  to  the  human  soul.  The  dreamer  has  not 
found  Charity  in  London,  for  there  all  are  covetous. 
Where  then  is  he  to  be  found  ?  and  the  answer  of  the 
Soul  is  given,  that  Charity  seldom  comes  to  Court. 
He  wears  russet  and  fur,  sometimes  ragged  clothes, 
and  once — long  ago — the  frock  of  a  friar.  Proud  of  a 
penny  as  of  a  pound  of  gold,  he  is  full  of  gladness, 
trusts  his  fellows,  finds  in  sickness  a  solace,  fears 
neither  death  nor  dearth.  Who  provides  for  him? 
asks  the  dreamer.  He  cares  nothing  for  rent  or 
riches.  He  neither  craves  nor  covets.  In  the  Lord 
he  lays  him  down,  and  takes  his  rest  (Ps.  iv.,  verse  9). 


THE  RESURRECTION  109 

He  has  a  friend,  who  never  fails  :  "  When  thou  openest 
thy  hand,  they  are  filled  with  good  "  (Ps.  civ.,  verse 
28).  He  visits  the  poor  and  the  prisoner ;  he  feeds, 
clothes,  and  comforts  them,  telling  them  of  Christ's 
sufferings.  He  purgeth  men  of  pride,  cleansing  them 
in  the  Laundry,  with  groans  and  tears  (Ps.  vi.,  verse 
6).  With  the  warm  water  from  his  eyes,  he  washes 
them  whiter  than  snow  (Ps.  li.,  verse  7),  singing  with 
his  work,  and  sometimes  weeping,  for  he  knows  that 
"  a  broken  and  contrite  heart,  O  God,  shalt  Thou  not 
despise"  (Ps.  li.,  verse  17). 

In  sect,  xviii.  is  told  in  part  the  Eesurrection 
Legend,  based  on  Psalm  xxiv.  (verses  7-10),  "Lift  up 
your  heads,  O  ye  gates,"  etc.  Christ  had  died  on  the 
Cross,  and  in  Hell  the  devils  saw  a  soul  "  hitherward 
sailing — with  glory  and  with  great  light,"  and  knew 
the  coming  of  the  King  of  Glory.  Then  the  "  Dukes  " 
of  that  "dymme  place  "  are  bidden  to  undo  the  gates, 

"  That  Crist  may  come  in 
The  Kynges  sone  of  hevene." 

With  the  breath  of  that  command  Hell  breaks.  The 
hundreds  of  angels  strike  their  harps,  and  Peace 
pipes — 

"  After  sharpe  showres 
Most  shene  is  the  sonne ; 
Is  no  weder  warmer 
Than  after  watry  cloudes." 

Truth  makes  her  covenant  with  Peace,  and  Righteous- 
ness kisses  her  reverently  (Psalm  Ixxxv.,  verse  10). 
Finally  Truth  takes  the  lute,  and  to  it  sings,  "  Behold 
how  good  and  joyful  a  thing  it  is,  brethren,  to  dwell 
together  in  unity"  (Ps.  cxxxiii.,  verse  1). 

All  over  South-Western  France  has  spread  the 


110  THE  MIDDLE  AGES 

popular  legend,  that  on  Easter  day,  when  the  words 
"Lift  up  your  heads,  O  ye  gates"  (Ps.  xxiv.)  are 
being  sung  in  church,  the  treasure-houses  marked  by 
dolmens,  cromlechs,  and  menhirs,  or  concealed,  as  at 
Boussac,  in  the  walls  of  castles,  spring  open,  and  men 
may,  for  a  brief  space,  enter  and  enrich  themselves 
unharmed  by  their  infernal  guardians.  It  is  the  recur- 
ring moment  of  which  Drummond  of  Hawthornden 
sings  : 

"Bright  portals  of  the  sky, 

Emboss'd  with  sparkling  stars ; 
Doors  of  Eternity, 

With  diamantine  bars, 
Your  arras  rich  uphold, 

Loose  all  your  bolts  and  springs, 
Ope  wide  your  leaves  of  gold, 

That  in  your  roofs  may  come  the  King  of  Kings." 

But  the  prevalence  of  the  legend  in  France,  and 
elsewhere,  is  probably  due  to  the  popularity  of  the 
Golden  Legend  in  devotional  literature.  In  that  book 
is  enshrined  the  religious  heart  of  the  Middle  Ages, 
with  its  fears  and  fancies,  its  longings,  its  child-like 
yet  soaring  faith.  In  it  is  revealed  the  soul  of  those 
cathedrals  which  still  stand  in  our  midst,  like  beings 
of  another  world.  In  it,  too,  are  unlocked  the  secrets 
of  the  intuitive  glories  and  imaginative  mysteries  of 
mediaeval  painting  and  architecture.  As  Caxton  says 
of  it :  "  In  like  wise  as  gold  is  most  noble  above  all 
other  metals,  in  like  wise  is  this  Legend  holden  most 
noble  above  all  other  works."  The  following  is  the 
story  of  Our  Lord's  visit  to  Hell,  condensed  from  the 
version  of  the  Golden  Legend : — 

The  news  of  the  Resurrection  struck  Jerusalem 
with  consternation.  While  the  priests  and  princes  of 


THE  GOLDEN  LEGEND  111 

the  people  were  holding  counsel,  there  were  brought 
into  the  assembly  two  sons  of  the  aged  Simeon, 
Leucius  and  Carinus,  who  had  risen  with  Jesus  and 
returned  from  death  to  life.  Each  asked  that  tablets 
should  be  given  them,  and  each  wrote  thereon  his 
tale.  We  were,  they  wrote,  in  the  dim  place  of  Shadow 
with  our  fathers  the  Patriarchs,  when  suddenly  a  great 
light  of  gold  and  crimson,  as  it  had  been  the  sun  in 
his  glory,  shone  round  about  us.  Then,  straightway, 
Adam,  the  father  of  the  human  race,  rejoiced  and  said, 
"  This  light  is  that  of  the  Author  of  all  light,  who  has 
promised  to  send  us  His  eternal  day."  And  Isaiah 
cried  aloud,  "  This  light  is  that  of  God,  of  whom  I 
foretold  that  the  people  which  walked  in  darkness 
should  see  a  great  light."  Then  came  to  us  the  aged 
Simeon,  and  with  him  John  the  Baptist,  and  they 
both  bore  witness  to  the  Saviour — the  one,  that  he 
had  carried  Him  in  his  arms ;  the  other,  that  he  had 
baptised  Him,  and  that  His  coming  was  nigh.  And 
all  the  Patriarchs  were  filled  with  joy  unspeakable. 

Then  Satan,  the  prince  of  Death,  said  unto  Hell, 
"  Make  ready  to  receive  Jesus,  who  boasted  Himself 
to  be  the  Son  of  God,  but  who  is  only  a  man  in  fear 
of  death,  for  He  hath  said,  '  My  soul  is  exceeding 
sorrowful  even  unto  death/  Behold  how  I  have 
tempted  Him  !  I  have  stirred  up  the  people  against 
Him  !  I  have  sharpened  the  lance ;  I  have  mingled 
the  gall  and  vinegar ;  I  have  made  ready  the  tree  of 
the  cross.  The  time  is  at  hand,  when  I  shall  bring 
Him  hither  a  captive." 

Then  Hell  asked,  "Is  it  this  same  Jesus  who 
raised  up  Lazarus  ? "  And  Satan  made  answer,  "  It 
is  He."  Then  Hell  cried,  "I  adjure  thee,  by  thy 
power  and  by  mine,  that  thou  bring  Him  not  hither; 


112  THE  MIDDLE  AGES 

for  when  I  heard  the  command  of  His  word,  I  trembled, 
and  I  could  not  hold  Lazarus,  but  he,  wresting  him- 
self from  me,  took  flight  like  an  angel  and  escaped 
out  of  my  hands." 

Now,  while  Hell  was  thus  speaking,  there  came  a 
voice,  like  the  crash  of  thunder,  which  said,  "  Open 
your  gates,  ye  Princes,  lift  up  your  everlasting  doors, 
and  the  King  of  Glory  shall  come  in."  At  the  sound 
of  this  mighty  voice,  the  devils  hastened  to  close  the 
brazen  gates  with  bars  of  iron.  But  when  he  saw 
what  they  did,  the  prophet  David  said,  "Have  I 
not  prophesied  that  He  would  break  the  gates  of 
brass,  and  smite  in  sunder  the  bars  of  iron?" 
Again  the  voice  sounded,  "Open  ye  your  gates, 
and  the  King  of  Glory  shall  come  in."  Then  Hell, 
hearing  that  the  voice  had  thus  twice  spoken,  asked, 
"  Who  then  is  this  King  of  Glory  ? "  And  the  prophet 
David  made  answer;  "It  is  the  Lord  Strong  and 
Mighty,  even  the  Lord  mighty  in  battle ;  He  is  the 
King  of  Glory." 

Even  as  David  spake,  the  King  of  Glory  appeared, 
His  splendour  shining  through  all  the  halls  of  shadows, 
and  He  stretched  forth  His  right  hand  and  took  the 
right  hand  of  Adam,  saying,  "Peace  be  with  thee, 
and  with  all  thy  sons  that  have  been  just."  And  so 
the  Lord  passed  forth  from  the  gates  of  Hell,  and  in 
His  train  followed  all  the  just. 

Leucius  and  Carinus  ceased  to  write,  and,  becom- 
ing white  as  snow,  disappeared. 


CHAPTER  V 

THE   REFORMATION  ERA 

The  influence  of  the  Psalms  among  pioneers  of  the  Reformation — 
Wyclif,  John  Hus,  Jerome  of  Prague;  among  mediaeval 
reformers— Savonarola  ;  among  Protestant  leaders — Luther 
and  Melancthon ;  among  champions  of  the  Papacy — the 
Emperor  Charles  V. ;  among  discoverers  of  New  Worlds — 
Christopher  Columbus;  among  men  of  the  New  Learning — 
Erasmus,  Picodella  Mirandola,  Sir  Thomas  More  ;  John  Fisher; 
John  Houghton  ;  among  leaders  of  the  Catholic  Reaction — 
Xavier,  and  St  Teresa  ;  among  Protestant  and  Catholic  Martyrs 
— Hooper,  Ridley,  and  Southwell. 

ON  St  Sylvester's  day,  1384,  John  "Wyclif  lay  dying  at 
Lutterworth.  The  friars,  so  runs  the  story,  crowded 
round  him,  urging  him  to  confess  the  wrongs  that  he 
had  done  to  their  Order.  But  the  indomitable  old  man 
caused  his  servant  to  raise  him  from  the  pillow,  and, 
gathering  all  his  remaining  strength,  exclaimed  with  a 
loud  voice,  "  I  shall  not  die,  but  live  ;  and  declare — 
the  evil  deeds  of  the  Friars  "  (Ps.  cxviii.,  verse  17). 

Before  Wyclif 's  day,  devout  men  had  assailed  the 
corruption  of  the  Church,  or  disputed  her  doctrines 
of  the  Sacraments.  Some  had  protested  against  the 
claims  of  the  Papacy,  or  upheld  the  rights  of  national 
churches.  Others  had  demanded  the  preaching  of  the 
true  Gospel.  Others  had  deplored  the  worldliness 
of  the  clergy,  denounced  the  wealth  of  the  Monastic 
118  H 


114  THE  REFORMATION  ERA 

Orders,  or  preached  the  blessings  of  poverty.  But 
all  had  remained  loyal  to  the  Pope ;  none  had  looked 
beyond  existing  agencies  for  the  reform  of  the  Church 
and  of  society.  Wyclif  s  attitude  marks  an  advance 
so  distinct  as  to  proclaim  a  new  epoch.  He  not 
only  attacked  practical  abuses,  but  aimed  at  erecting 
an  ecclesiastical  fabric  which  should  differ  from  the 
old  in  doctrine  as  well  as  in  organisation.  In  the  last 
years  of  his  life,  he  urged  complete  separation  from 
the  Papacy  as  Antichrist,  established  his  "  Poor 
Priests,"  aspired  to  reform  England  by  the  translation 
of  the  Bible  into  the  vulgar  tongue,  and,  in  religion, 
politics,  and  society,  insisted  on  the  freedom  of  the 
human  conscience  from  every  restraint  except  Christ's 
written  law.  His  importance  as  the  centre  of  all  pre- 
Eeformation  history  was  instinctively  recognised. 
When  the  Bishop  of  Lincoln  ordered  his  body  to  be 
exhumed  and  burned,  and  its  ashes  thrown  into  the 
river  Swift — or  when  Walsingham,  the  Chronicler, 
calls  him  "  that  weapon  of  the  Devil,  that  enemy  of 
the  Church,  that  sower  of  confusion  among  unlearned 
people,  that  idol  of  heresy,  that  mirror  of  hypocrisy, 
that  father  of  schism,  that  son  of  hatred,  that  father 
of  lies " — the  one  by  his  action,  the  other  by  his 
language,  expresses  his  sense  of  the  fact  that  Wyclif 
was  not  a  reformer  of  the  mediaeval  monastic  type, 
but  had  introduced  a  new  era. 

Wyclif 's  attitude  was,  in  part,  produced  by  changed 
eircumstances.  Traditions  of  universal  empire  were 
obscured  by  the  rise  of  separate  nations,  one  in  race, 
language,  and  religion ;  the  temporal  claims  of  the 
Pope  had  increased  as  his  spiritual  hold  on  the  world 
relaxed,  and  both  became  intolerable,  when  claimants 
of  the  papal  throne  excommunicated  their  opponents 


WYCLIFS   ADVANCED   POSITION  115 

or  doomed  their  rivals  to  eternal  damnation.  In  part, 
it  expressed  profound  discontent  with  the  corruptions 
of  religious  life,  intensified  by  the  horrors  of  the  plague. 
Even  the  most  vicious  were  terrified  into  paying  that 
vicarious  homage  to  virtue  which  demands  from  the 
clergy  an  elevated  moral  standard.  In  part,  it  resulted 
from  political  or  social  conditions.  The  English  nation 
was  at  war  with  France ;  the  Pope  was  the  puppet  of 
the  French  king,  and  papal  tributes  fed  the  French 
treasury  with  English  money.  The  nobles  desired  to 
oust  the  clergy  from  public  affairs,  the  commons  to 
lighten  their  own  burdens  by  taxing  ecclesiastical 
property,  the  people  to  relieve  their  poverty  by  appro- 
priating the  wealth  of  the  Church.  But  the  peculiar 
position  which  Wyclif  adopted  was  even  more  the 
effect  of  his  own  temperament.  To  his  austere  piety, 
logical  intellect,  unimaginative  nature,  the  faith  of  the 
Middle  Ages  made  but  weak  appeal.  Blind  to  its 
beauties,  he  saw  with  exaggerated  clearness  only  its 
deformities.  He  chafed  against  the  fetters  it  imposed 
upon  his  mental  independence,  and  failed  to  appreciate 
its  spiritual  insight,  mystical  ardour,  religious  rapture, 
intense  realisation  of  the  mysteries  of  the  unseen. 
When  once  a  man  of  this  temperament  was  startled 
into  opposition  by  intellectual  difficulties  or  moral 
shortcomings,  he  could  not  stop  short  at  reform,  but 
was  irresistibly  impelled  towards  revolution.  He  was 
the  precursor,  not  of  the  Anglican  reformer,  but  of  the 
Puritan  iconoclast. 

Without  Wyclif,  there  would  have  been  no  Hus 
and  no  Jerome  of  Prague.  Both  men  were  accused 
of  sympathy  with  the  English  Reformer.  At  Prague, 
a  portion  of  Wyclif  s  tomb  was  worshipped  as  a  relic  : 
numerous  manuscripts  of  his  writings  exist  in  foreign 


116  THE  REFORMATION  ERA 

libraries,  especially  at  Vienna;  and  Hus's  work  on 
the  Church  (De  Ecclesia)  is  derived,  sometimes  verb- 
ally, from  the  English  Eeformer.  Like  Wyclif,  both 
Hus  and  Jerome  died  repeating  the  words  of  a  psalm. 

On  July  6th,  1415,  the  Council  of  Constance  held 
its  fifteenth  general  session  in  the  cathedral.  Sigis- 
mund,  King  of  the  Romans,  presided;  before  his 
throne,  nobles  and  princes  of  the  empire  bore  the 
insignia  of  the  imperial  dignity ;  the  cardinals  and 
prelates  were  assembled  in  their  nations.  After  Mass 
had  been  said,  John  Hus,  a  pale,  thin  man,  in  mean 
attire,  was  brought  into  the  presence  of  his  judges, 
and  placed  on  a  small  raised  platform.  In  vain  he 
protested  that  he  had  come  to  Constance  under  a  safe- 
conduct  from  Sigismund  himself.  He  was  condemned 
as  a  heretic,  and  handed  over  to  the  secular  arm  for 
execution.  The  sentence  was  carried  out  without 
delay.  On  the  road  from  Constance  to  Gottlieben 
the  stake  was  prepared.  When  Hus  reached  the  spot, 
wearing  a  paper  cap  of  blasphemy,  adorned  with 
"three  devils  of  wonderfully  ugly  shape,"  and  inscribed 
with  the  word  u  Heresiarcha,"  he  fell  on  his  knees, 
and  prayed,  chanting  Psalm  xxxi.  He  died,  choked 
by  the  flames,  but  repeating  with  "a  merry  and 
cheerful  countenance,"  the  words,  "Into  Thy  hands 
I  commend  my  spirit "  (Ps.  xxxi.,  verse  6). 

On  the  same  spot,  on  May  30th,  1416,  died  Jerome 
of  Prague.  Tall,  powerfully  built,  graceful  of  speech, 
one  of  the  most  brilliant  laymen  of  the  day,  he  had 
come  to  the  Council  to  plead  the  cause  of  Hus. 
Panic-stricken  at  his  friend's  fate,  he  fled,  only  to  be 
captured  and  brought  back  to  Constance.  His 
courage  revived  when  escape  was  hopeless.  An 
imprisonment  of  six  months  did  not  induce  him  to 


REFORMATION  AND  REACTION  117 

acknowledge  the  justice  of  the  sentence  passed  upon 
Hus.  Like  his  friend,  he  perished  at  the  stake, 
dwelling  with  his  latest  breath  on  the  same  words, 
"Into  Thy  hands  I  commend  my  spirit." 

The  Council  of  Constance  healed  the  papal  schism. 
But  it  accomplished  little  more.  With  its  dissolution, 
and  that  of  the  Council  of  Basle,  faded  the  hope  of  any 
complete  or  universal  reform  of  the  Church  from 
within.  It  was  a  time,  not  of  transition  only,  but 
also  of  sifting.  Men  like  Luther,  Erasmus,  or  Fisher, 
who  were  of  one  mind  in  condemning  abuses,  passed 
into .  opposite  camps,  impelled  by  the  differences  in 
their  own  temperaments.  Vast  efforts  were  indeed 
made  for  internal  reform  ;  but  they  were  too  narrow, 
too  local,  or  too  late.  The  pent-up  stream  of  intel- 
lectual life  and  classic  culture  had  burst  its  barriers, 
shattering  the  old  channels  of  thinking,  believing,  and 
acting,  which  centuries  of  habit  had  grooved.  Fed 
from  innumerable  sources,  the  Protestant  Reformation 
had  swelled  into  a  headlong  torrent.  In  the  sea  of 
human  faith  and  thought,  both  currents  met  the 
flowing  tide  of  the  Catholic  reaction.  It  was  a  time 
of  fierce  shock  and  collision.  But  among  the  "  green 
pastures  "  of  the  Psalms,  and  beside  their  "  waters  of 
comfort,"  men,  who,  in  all  else,  were  at  bitter  strife, 
refresh  their  weariness,  renew  their  aspirations,  re- 
cover their  strength  and  courage.  From  the  same 
pages,  side  by  side,  read  mediaeval  reformers  like 
Savonarola,  heroes  of  the  Protestant  Reformation  like 
Luther  and  Melancthon,  imperial  champions  of  the 
Papacy  like  Charles  V.,  discoverers  of  new  worlds  like 
Christopher  Columbus,  lights  of  the  new  learning 
like  Sir  Thomas  More,  leaders  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
reaction  like  St  Teresa  or  St  Francis  Xavier, 


118  THE  REFORMATION  ERA 

Savonarola  (1452-98),  the  great  Dominican 
preacher,  who  for  five  years  held  within  the  hollow  of 
his  hand  the  destinies  of  Florence,  is  one  of  the  most 
fascinating  figures  in  history.  His  worn  face,  as  it  is 
presented  to  us  in  the  best  known  of  his  portraits,  is 
harsh  and  even  ugly,  yet  full  of  concentrated  force, 
both  intellectual  and  moral.  His  blue-grey  eyes  burn 
like  live  coals  under  thick  black  eyebrows,  and  light 
up  the  yellow,  wax-like  complexion ;  his  nose  is  long, 
and  highly  arched  ;  his  large  mouth  is  quick  to  com- 
press into  resolve  or  to  relax  into  a  smile ;  the 
projecting  lower  lip  gives  an  air  of  pugnacity  to  the 
whole  face ;  his  cheeks  are  hollowed  by  anxieties 
and  abstinence ;  his  low  yet  massive  forehead  is  fur- 
rowed by  the  deep  wrinkles  of  thought.  His 
delicate  transparent  hands,  with  their  long  tapering 
fingers,  tell  the  story  of  his  enthusiastic,  imaginative 
temperament. 

Long  had  the  hard-featured  stripling  pondered 
over  the  sin  and  misery  of  the  world,  praying,  as  he 
tells  his  father,  in  the  words  of  the  Psalm  (cxliii., 
verse  8),  "  Shew  Thou  me  the  way  that  I  should  walk 
in,  for  I  lift  up  my  soul  unto  Thee."  To  escape  the 
stifling  atmosphere  of  wickedness  by  which  he  was 
surrounded,  he  fled  to  the  cloister.  Seven  years  later 
(1482),  he  was  transferred  from  the  Dominican  con- 
vent of  Bologna  to  that  of  San  Marco  at  Florence, 
and  began  his  career  as  preacher,  reformer,  and  prophet. 
His  indignation  burned  into  flame  as  he  watched  the 
Church  plundered  by  false  friends,  and  saw  spiritual 
death  stealing  over  her  pulseless  form,  like  some  quiet 
flowing  tide.  But  his  ideals  were  not  those  of  a 
Wyclif  or  a  Luther.  He  looked  to  a  General  Council 
to  purify  the  vices  of  the  Church  :  a  rebel  against  an 


SAVONAROLA  119 

individual  Pope,  he  was  loyal  to  the  Papacy  :  a  stern 
reprover  of  practice,  he  advocated  no  change  in 
doctrine.  Throughout  the  struggle  that  followed,  the 
contrast  between  the  personal  characters  of  the  oppo- 
nents heightens  the  tragic  interest.  On  one  side  stands 
E/oderigo  Borgia,  Pope  Alexander  VI.,  whose  name 
has  passed  into  a  byword  as  a  monster  of  iniquity ;  on 
the  other,  Savonarola,  whose  pure  enthusiasm,  un- 
sullied morality,  and  religious  zeal,  can  neither  be 
denied  nor  disputed. 

On  April  7th,  1498,  occurred  a  crisis  in  Savona- 
rola's fate.  It  was  the  Friday  before  Palm  Sunday. 
A  Franciscan  friar  had  challenged  him  to  prove  the 
truth  of  his  preaching  by  the  ordeal  of  fire.  The 
challenge  was  accepted  by  one  of  his  devoted  adherents, 
Fra  Domenico.  Through  the  crowded  streets  of 
Florence  passed  the  long  procession  of  the  Domini- 
cans from  San  Marco  to  the  great  square  in  front  of 
the  Palazzo  Vecchio,  where  the  ordeal  was  prepared. 
Their  enthusiastic  supporters  heard  the  very  buildingb 
take  up  their  chant,  when  the  friars  thundered  forth 
the  words  of  Psalm  Ixviii.,  "  Let  God  arise,  and  let 
His  enemies  be  scattered."  All  day  the  populace 
waited ;  but  the  challenger  did  not  appear.  The 
blind  adoration  of  the  fickle  Florentines  turned  to 
fury.  Savonarola's  power  was  at  an  end.  He  was 
at  the  mercy  of  his  enemies.  On  Palm  Sunday,  the 
9th  of  the  month,  he  was  dragged  from  San  Marco 
and  thrown  into  prison.  There  he  suffered  repeated 
tortures,  inflicted  in  the  hope  of  wringing  from  him 
the  confession  that  his  revelations  of  the  future  were 
impostures.  To  a  man  of  his  high-strung  sensitive 
temperament  the  physical  agony  was  intense,  and  to 
it  were  added  the  mental  pain  of  desertion,  the  pang 


120  THE  REFORMATION  ERA 

of  lost  confidence,  the  bodily  weakness  of  frequent 
fasts.  With  subtle  refinement  of  cruelty,  his  torturers, 
who  had  broken  his  left  arm  and  crunched  the  shoulder 
bone  out  of  its  socket,  had  left  his  right  arm  whole  in 
order  that  he  might  sign  his  so-called  confessions. 
He  used  it  to  write  his  meditations  on  the  51st  and 
the  31st  Psalms.  The  last  was  unfinished.  Whether 
ink  and  paper  were  taken  from  the  prisoner,  or 
whether  the  arrival  of  the  Papal  Commissioners  on 
May  19th,  and  his  execution  on  the  22nd,  cut  short 
his  task,  is  uncertain.  Only  three  verses  were  com- 
pleted : 

"Sorrow,"  he  begins,  "hath  pitched  her  camp 
against  me.  She  hath  hemmed  me  in  on  every  side. 
Her  men  of  war  are  strong  and  many.  She  hath  filled 
my  heart  with  the  shout  of  battle  and  the  din  of  arms. 
Day  and  night  she  ceaseth  not  to  strive  with  me.  My 
friends  have  become  my  foes,  and  fight  under  her 
standard. 

"  Unhappy  being  that  I  am !  who  will  free  me 
from  the  hands  of  the  ungodly  ?  Who  will  shield  me  ? 
Who  will  come  to  my  succour  ?  Whither  shall  I  flee  ? 
How  can  I  escape  ?  I  know  what  I  will  do.  I  will 
turn  to  heavenly  things,  and  they  shall  do  battle  with 
the  things  of  the  earth.  Hope  shall  lead  the  forces  of 
Heaven ;  Hope  shall  march  against  Sorrow,  and  over- 
come her.  Hear  what  the  prophet  hath  said  :  l  For 
Thou,  Lord,  art  my  hope ;  Thou  hast  set  thine  house 
of  defence  very  high '  (Ps.  xci.,  verse  9).  I  will  call 
unto  the  Lord,  and  He  will  hasten  to  come  to  me,  and 
will  not  suffer  me  to  be  put  to  confusion.  Lo !  He 
hath  come  already.  '  Cry  aloud,'  He  saith,  '  Cry  aloud 
always.7  And  what,  Lord,  shall  I  cry  ?  '  Cry  in  full 
assurance,  and  with  all  thy  heart'  In  Thee,  0  Lord, 


SAVONAROLA'S  COMMENTARY  121 

have  I  put  my  trust ;  let  me  never  be  put  to  confusion  ; 
deliver  me  in  Thy  righteousness  ! 

"  Bowed  at  the  feet  of  the  Lord,  my  eyes  bathed 
with  tears,  I  cried,  '  The  Lord  is  my  light  and  my 
salvation ;  whom  then  shall  I  fear ;  the  Lord  is  the 
strength  of  my  life  ;  of  whom  then  shall  I  be  afraid  ? ' 
Though  a  host  of  men  were  set  against  me,  yet  shall 
not  my  heart  be  afraid  ;  and  though  there  rose  up 
war  against  me,  yet  will  I  put  my  trust  in  Him." 

Here  the  Commentary,  of  which  only  the  beginning 
and  the  end  are  given,  closes  abruptly.  But  in  the 
peace  which  the  Psalms  brought  him,  Savonarola 
slept  soundly  on  the  night  before  his  execution,  and, 
as  the  morning  light  struggled  through  the  bars  of  the 
prison,  a  Penitent  of  the  Temple,  watching  at  his 
side,  saw  a  smile  play  over  his  face  while  he  slept,  as 
soft  and  gentle  as  the  smile  of  a  little  child.  With 
the  strength  which  the  Psalm  gave  him  he  met  his 
death,  in  silence  and  with  unflinching  courage,  on  the 
open  space  before  the  Palazzo  Vecchio.  It  is  from  the 
Psalms  (Ps.  li.,  verse  13),  "  Then  shall  I  teach  Thy 
ways  unto  the  wicked ;  and  sinners  shall  be  converted 
unto  Thee,"  that  the  motto  is  taken  for  Michel 
Angelo's  picture  of  Savonarola. 

Savonarola  was  in  no  sense  of  the  word  a  Protes- 
tant. But  his  Commentaries  on  Pss.  xxxi.  and  li. 
were  published  by  Luther,  with  a  preface,  in  1523. 
With  Wyclif  and  his  immediate  followers  neither 
Luther  nor  Melancthon  was  in  full  sympathy.  The 
first  censured  the  English  Reformer  for  his  sacra- 
mental views,  the  second  thought  him  mad  on  the 
subject  of  Church  property.  Yet  the  same  text  from 
the  Psalms,  which  Wyclif  adapted  on  his  deathbed, 
was  inscribed  on  the  walls  of  Luther's  study,  "  I  shall 


122  THE  REFORMATION  ERA 

not  die,  but  live,  and  declare  the  works  of  the  Lord  " 
(Ps.  cxviii.,  verse  17),  and  both  the  German  Reformers 
died  (Luther,  February  18th,  1546 ;  Melancthon,  April 
19th,  1560)  committing  their  souls  to  God  in  the  same 
words  of  the  Psalm  which  Hus  and  Jerome  of  Prague 
had  repeated,  with  their  latest  breath,  "Into  Thy 
hands  I  commend  my  spirit"  (Ps.  xxxi.,  verse  6). 

Luther's  love  of  the  Psalms  might  be  fully  illus- 
trated by  the  lectures  on  them  with  which  he  began 
his  public  career,  as  a  teacher  at  Wittenberg  (1512), 
by  his  Commentaries  on  the  Seven  Penitential  Psalms 
(1517),  by  his  hymns,  by  his  life  and  conversation. 
He  clung  to  his  "  old  and  ragged  "  Psalter  as  a  tried 
and  trusty  friend.  With  an  exposition  of  Ps.  cxviii. 
he  busied  himself  in  his  solitude  at  Coburg.  "  This/' 
he  says,  in  the  dedication  of  his  translation,  "  is  my 
psalm,  my  chosen  psalm.  I  love  them  all ;  I  love 
all  Holy  Scripture,  which  is  my  consolation  and 
my  life.  But  this  psalm  is  nearest  my  heart,  and  I 
have  a  familiar  right  to  call  it  mine.  It  has  saved  me 
from  many  a  pressing  danger,  from  which  nor  emperor, 
nor  kings,  nor  sages,  nor  saints  could  have  saved  me. 
It  is  my  friend ;  dearer  to  me  than  all  the  honours  and 
power  of  the  earth." 

Mention  has  been  already  made  of  Luther's  love 
for  Psalm  iv.,  and  his  wish  to  hear  sung  in  his  last 
moments  the  soothing  words,  "  I  will  lay  me  down  in 
peace,  and  take  my  rest "  (Ps.  iv.,  verse  9).  Another 
of  his  favourites  was  Psalm  ex.  "  The  110th,"  he  says, 
"  is  very  fine.  It  describes  the  kingdom  and  priest- 
hood of  Jesus  Christ,  and  declares  Him  to  be  the  King 
of  all  things  and  the  intercessor  for  all  men  ;  to  Whom 
all  things  have  been  remitted  by  His  Father,  and  Who 
has  compassion  on  us  all  Tis  a  noble  psalm ;  if  I 


MARTIN  LUTHER  123 

were  well,  I  would  endeavour  to  make  a  commentary 
upon  it."  Another  favourite  was  Psalm  ii.,  and  his 
remarks  upon  it  bring  out  salient  features  in  the 
character  of  a  man  whose  very  words  were  "  half- 
battles"  :  "The  2nd  Psalm  is  one  of  the  best  psalms. 
I  love  that  psalm  with  all  my  heart.  It  strikes  and 
flashes  valiantly  among  kings,  princes,  counsellors, 
judges,  etc.  If  what  this  psalm  says  be  true,  then 
are  the  allegations  and  aims  of  the  papists  stark  lies 
and  folly.  If  I  were  as  our  Lord  God,  and  had  com- 
mitted the  government  to  my  son,  as  He  to  His  Son, 
and  these  vile  people  were  as  disobedient  as  now  they 
be,  I  would  knock  the  world  in  pieces." 

But  if  his  comment  on  Psalm  ii.  illustrates  the 
violence  of  Luther's  character,  his  use  of  Psalm  xlvi. 
exemplifies  his  magnificent  courage,  and  suggests  the 
source  from  which  it  sprang.  There  were  moments 
when  even  he  felt  something  akin  to  despair,  and  he 
asked  with  the  Psalmist,  "  Why  art  thou  cast  down, 
O  my  soul  ? "  In  such  hours  he  would  say  to  Melanc- 
thon,  "Come,  Philip,  let  us  sing  the  46th  Psalm," 
and  the  two  friends  sang  it  in  Luther's  version,  "  Ein' 
feste  Burg  ist  unser  Gott."  The  version  is  character- 
istic of  the  man.  It  has  his  heartiness,  his  sincere 
piety,  his  joyful  confidence,  his  simplicity  and  strength, 
his  impetuosity  and  ruggedness.  Harmony,  delicacy, 
spiritual  tenderness,  are  not  there.  But  the  words  of 
his  hymn  breathe  the  same  undaunted  spirit  which 
flamed  out  in  his  answer  to  the  warning  of  his  friends, 
"  Were  there  as  many  devils  in  Worms  as  there  are 
roof- tiles,  I  would  on."  They  also  reveal  the  secret 
of  the  confidence  which  inspired  his  memorable  words 
before  the  Council:  "I  cannot  and  will  not  retract 
anything.  It  is  neither  wise  nor  right  to  do  aught 


124  THE  REFORMATION  ERA 

against  conscience.     Here  stand  I ;  I  cannot  other- 
wise.    God  help  me.     Amen." 

From  Carlyle's  rugged  translation  of  "  Em'  feste 
Burg  ist  unser  Gott,"  the  first  and  the  last  of  the  four 
stanzas  of  Luther's  version  of  Psalm  xlvi.  are  quoted : 

"  A  safe  stronghold  our  God  is  still, 

A  trusty  shield  and  weapon  ; 
He'll  help  us  clear  from  all  the  ill 

That  hath  us  now  o'ertaken. 
The  ancient  Prince  of  Hell 
Hath  risen  with  purpose  fell ; 
Strong  mail  of  Craft  and  Power 
He  weareth  in  this  hour, 
On  earth  is  not  his  fellow. 

..««•• 
«  God's  Word,  for  all  their  craft  and  force, 

One  moment  will  not  linger, 
But,  spite  of  Hell,  shall  have  its  course, 

'Tis  written  by  his  finger. 
And  though  they  take  our  life, 
Goods,  honour,  children,  wife, 
Yet  is  their  profit  small ; 
These  things  shall  vanish  all, 
The  City  of  God  remaineth." 

The  Diet  of  Worms  (January  1521),  by  which 
Luther  was  condemned  and  placed  under  the  ban  of 
the  empire,  was  opened  by  Charles  V.,  the  champion 
of  the  Pope  against  the  Protestants.  Yet,  in  love  of 
the  Psalms,  emperor  and  reformer  were  not  divided. 
Charles  presented  Marot  with  200  gold  doubloons  for 
his  metrical  version  of  thirty  psalms,  and  asked  him 
to  translate  his  own  special  favourite,  Psalm  cxviii.* 
His  delight  in  the  Psalter  increased  in  later  life, 
especially  in  the  period  of  ill-health  which  ended  his 
long  rule  (1550-6),  when  he  sang  them  with  his  friend, 

*  Bovet  (Histoire  du  Psautier,  p.  6,  note  3)  thinks  the  Psalm  was 
cyviii.  It  might,  however,  have  been  Psalm  cvii. 


CHARLES  V.  125 

"William  von  Male.     During  those  years  his  cherished 
plan  of  abdication  took  definite  shape. 

In  November  1556,  Charles  crossed  the  pass  of 
Puerto-nuevo  and  descended  into  the  valley  of  the 
Vera  in  Estramadura,  where  he  intended  to  pass  the 
closing  years  of  his  life.  The  beetling  crags  at  the 
topmost  crest  of  the  Sierra  closed,  as  it  were,  the  gates 
of  the  world  behind  him  ;  "  Tis  the  last  pass,"  he  said, 
"  that  I  shall  ever  go  through."  The  Jeromite  Convent 
of  Yuste  was  the  scene  of  the  emperor's  retirement. 
He  entered  it  on  February  3rd,  1557,  bringing  with 
him  two  illuminated  Psalters,  and  the  commentary 
of  Tomas  de  Puertocarrero  on  the  Psalm,  In  te,  Domine, 
speravi.  From  the  windows  of  his  cabinet  he  looked 
over  a  cluster  of  rounded  knolls,  clad  in  walnut  and 
chestnut,  varied  with  the  massive  foliage  of  the  fig, 
and  the  feathery  sprays  of  the  almond.  Here  he 
lived,  transacting  business  of  the  State,  punctilious  in 
his  devotions,  delighting  in  the  music  of  the  choir, 
giving  to  his  garden  or  his  pets  much  of  the  leisure 
which  he  enjoyed.  In  September  1558,  he  lay  on  his 
deathbed.  Portents  heralded  his  approaching  end. 
The  bell  of  Vililla  in  Arragon,  which,  ringing  of  itself, 
had  foretold  the  death  of  Ferdinand  the  Catholic,  and 
the  sack  of  Rome  by  the  army  of  Bourbon,  sent  out 
its  mysterious  warnings  over  the  plains  of  the  Ebro. 
A  comet  blazed  in  the  sky  during  his  illness,  and 
disappeared  on  the  day  of  his  death.  A  lily  bud, 
which  had  remained  a  bud  all  the  summer,  burst  into 
bloom  on  September  20th,  as  a  token,  it  was  believed, 
of  the  whiteness  of  the  departing  spirit,  and  as  a 
pledge  of  its  reception  into  the  mansions  of  bliss. 
On  Monday  the  19th,  he  had  received  the  longer  or 
ecclesiastical  form  of  extreme  unction,  which  con- 


126  THE  REFORMATION  ERA 

sisted  in  the  recitation  of  the  seven  Penitential  Psalms, 
a  litany,  and  several  portions  of  Scripture.  Through- 
out the  20th  of  September,  passages  were  read  aloud  to 
him  by  his  confessor,  from  the  Bible,  but  especially 
from  the  Psalms,  his  favourite  being  Psalm  xc., 
"Lord,  Thou  hast  been  our  refuge."  On  the  same 
evening  he  received  the  Sacrament,  at  his  urgent 
request.  "It  may  not,"  he  said,  "be  necessary;  but 
it  is  good  company  on  so  long  a  journey."  In  spite  of 
his  extreme  weakness,  he  followed  all  the  responses, 
and  repeated  with  the  utmost  fervour  the  whole 
verse,  "  Into  Thy  hands  I  commend  my  spirit :  for 
Thou  hast  redeemed  me,  O  Lord,  Thou  God  of 
truth  "  (Ps.  xxxi.,  verse  6).  On  St  Matthew's  day 
(September  21st),  at  two  o'clock  the  next  morning, 
the  Emperor  Charles  V.  was  dead. 

To  men  of  Luther's  temper,  leaders  of  the  New 
Learning  were  cowardly  palterers  with  truth.  He 
denounced  Erasmus  as  "a  very  Caiaphas,"  and  when- 
ever he  prayed,  prayed  "  for  a  curse  upon  Erasmus  " ; 
to  him  also  Sir  Thomas  More  (1478-1535)  appeared 
"a  cruel  tyrant."  Yet  here  again  the  Psalms  were 
common  ground. 

Many  of  the  Renaissance  scholars,  in  their  eager- 
ness to  conquer  the  new  worlds  of  thought  and 
knowledge  which  opened  out  before  them,  doubtless 
relaxed,  lost,  or  abandoned  their  earlier  faith.  It 
was  not  so  with  Christopher  Columbus,  the  man  of 
action.  The  young  Genoese  wool-comber,  who  dis- 
covered the  New  World  of  America,  was  essentially 
a  man  of  the  Middle  Ages,  and  died  clad  in  the  habit 
of  St  Francis.  His  imaginative,  enthusiastic  mind 
was  imbued  with  the  firm  conviction  that,  in  devoting 
all  his  energies  to  his  great  idea,  he  was  the  chosen 


CHRISTOPHER  COLUMBUS  127 

instrument  for  the  fulfilment  of  a  Divine  design.  The 
impulse  to  the  work  of  the  greatest  maritime  genius 
of  the  century  was  essentially  religious.  His  habitual 
signature  was  an  invocation  to  Jesus,  Mary,  and 
Joseph,  placed  above  his  own  name  of  Christopher, 
or  the  Christ-bearer.  In  the  constancy  of  his  faith  at 
least,  if  in  no  other  respect,  his  death  was  worthy  of 
his  life  and  work.  In  a  wretched  hired  lodging  at 
Valladolid,  dressed  in  the  Franciscan  habit,  fortified 
by  the  rites  of  the  Church,  he  died  on  the  eve  of 
Ascension  Day,  May  20th,  1506,  repeating,  like  John 
Hus,  or  Luther,  or  More,  or  like  Tasso,  who  sang  tLe 
swan -song  of  Italian  chivalry,  the  familiar  words, 
"Into  Thy  hands  I  commend  my  spirit."  / 

Nor  were  the  men  of  the  New  Learning,  who 
explored  new  worlds  of  knowledge,  or  re-discovered 
lost  continents  of  thought  and  literature,  necessarily 
hostile  to  the  older  faith.  Erasmus,  himself  a  com- 
mentator on  the  Psalms,  writing  from  Louvain  (May 
30th,  1519),  praises  Luther's  commentaries  on  the 
Psalms,  which  pleased  him  "  prodigiously,"  and  should 
be  "widely  read."  Pico  della  Mirandola,  one  of  the 
most  brilliant  scholars  of  the  Italian  Eenaissance,  was 
the  friend  and  apologist  of  Savonarola,  without  whom 
he  could  not  live,  and  in  whose  church  of  San  Marco 
he  lies  buried.  His  life  and  works  were  translated 
by  More.  "Let  no  day  pass,"  writes  Pico,  "but 
thou  once,  at  the  least- wise,  present  thyself  to  God  by 
prayer,  and  falling  down  before  Him  flat  to  the  ground 
.  .  .  not  from  the  extremity  of  thy  lips,  but  from 
the  inwardness  of  thine  heart,  cry  these  words  of  the 
prophet,  *O  remember  not  the  sins  and  offences  of 
my  youth ;  but  according  to  Thy  mercy  think  upon 
me,  O  Lord,  for  Thy  goodness ' "  (Ps.  xxv.,  verse  6). 


128  THE  REFORMATION  ERA 

The  advice  was  daily  practised  by  More  himself,  even 
when  he  was  surrounded  by  the  splendours  of  the 
court  of  Henry  VIII.,  and  in  the  midst  of  the  active 
life  of  a  diplomatist  and  statesman,  man  of  letters, 
Chancellor,  and  Treasurer.  The  Psalms  formed  part 
of  his  morning  and  evening  prayers,  and  he  had  made 
a  small  collection  of  special  psalms  for  frequent  use. 
In  the  days  of  his  disgrace,  a  prisoner  in  the  upper 
ward  of  the  Beauchamp  Tower  because  he  would  not 
swear  an  oath  against  his  conscience,  he  composed 
many  works,  chiefly  meditations  on  the  Christian 
faith,  by  the  dim  light  that  flickered  through  the 
bars  of  his  prison. 

Whatever  view  may  be  taken  of  the  course  of  the 
Protestant  Reformation  in  England,  at  the  different 
stages  of  its  progress,  it  is  difficult  to  justify  the 
public  farce  of  Queen  Catherine's  divorce  and  Anne 
Boleyn's  coronation.  With  or  without  the  Pope's 
sanction,  Henry  VIII.  was  resolved  to  go  all  lengths 
in  order  to  obtain  his  will.  "  He  was,"  says  Bishop 
Stubbs,  "  the  King,  the  whole  King,  and  nothing  but 
the  King  :  he  wished  to  be  ...  the  Pope,  the  whole 
Pope,  and  something  more  than  Pope."  The  question 
of  the  marriage  was  still  before  the  Pope  when 
Anne  was  crowned  (June  1st,  1533),  and  when  the 
Princess  Elizabeth,  in  the  following  September,  was 
born.  In  March  1534,  an  Act  of  Parliament  (25 
Henry  VIII.,  c.  22),  declared  Catherine's  marriage 
illegal,  the  divorce  pronounced  by  Cranmer  valid,  the 
marriage  of  Anne  Boleyn  lawful,  and  her  children 
rightful  heirs  to  the  throne.  On  March  23rd,  1534, 
Pope  Clement  pronounced  the  marriage  of  Henry  and 
Catherine  to  be  valid.  A  plain  issue  was  thus  raised. 
Armed  rebellion,  aided  by  foreign  intervention,  was 


SIR  THOMAS  MORE  129 

in  the  air.  An  oath  of  allegiance  was  framed,  the 
actual  terms  of  which  seem  to  be  doubtful ;  a  com- 
mission sat  at  Lambeth  to  tender  it,  and  foremost 
among  those  who  refused  to  accept  the  oath,  in  whole 
or  in  part,  stood  Sir  Thomas  More,  and  John  Fisher, 
Bishop  of  Rochester,  bell-wethers  of  the  flock  which 
adhered  to  the  older  faith.  Both  were  committed  to 
the  Tower  of  London  in  April  1534.  Both  found  in 
the  Psalms  their  strength  and  solace. 

Twelve  years  before  his  imprisonment  began,  More 
was  writing  an  English  treatise  on  the  words  of 
Ecclesiasticus,  "  In  all  thy  works  remember  thy  last 
end,  and  thou  shalt  never  sin."  In  the  fragment  on 
Death,  he  says:  "Mark  this  well,  for  of  this  thing 
we  be  very  sure,  that  old  and  young,  man  and  woman, 
rich  and  poor,  prince  and  page,  all  the  while  we  live 
in  this  world,  we  be  but  prisoners,  and  be  within  a 
sure  prison,  out  of  which  there  can  no  man  escape. 
The  prison  is  large,  and  many  prisoners  in  it,  but  the 
Jailer  can  lose  none  :  He  is  so  present  in  every  place, 
that  we  can  creep  into  no  corner  out  of  His  sight. 
For  as  holy  David  saith  to  this  Jailer,  'Whither 
shall  I  go  from  Thy  Spirit,  and  whither  shall  I  flee 
from  Thy  face  ? '  (Ps.  cxxxix.,  verse  6),  as  who  saith 
— no  whither."  To  such  thoughts  his  mind  now 
naturally  reverted.  Scantily  fed,  and  "  besides  his 
old  disease  of  the  breast,  grieved  in  the  reins  by 
reason  of  gravel  and  stone,  and  with  the  cramp  that 
divers  nights  seized  him,"  he  yet  maintained  his 
cheerful  temper.  By  her  own  earnest  suit,  Margaret 
Koper  was  allowed  to  visit  him  in  his  cell.  On  one 
occasion,  "after  the  Seven  Psalms  and  Litany  said 
(which  whensoever  she  came  unto  him,  ere  he  fell  into 
talk  of  any  worldly  matter,  he  used  accustomably  to 

I 


130  THE  REFORMATION  ERA 

say  with  her),"  he  even  made  light  of  the  rigour  of  his 
confinement.  "I  find,"  he  says,  "no  cause,  I  thank 
God,  Meg,  to  reckon  myself  in  worse  case  here  than 
at  home  :  for  methinketh  God  maketh  me  a  wanton  " 
(i.e.,  a  spoiled  child),  "  and  setteth  me  on  His  lap  and 
dandleth  me." 

But  fifteen  months'  confinement  in  "a  close,  filthy 
prison,  shut  up  among  mice  and  rats,"  told  upon 
More's  strength.  When,  on  July  1st,  1535,  he  was 
sentenced  to  death,  he  was  aged  by  suffering,  his 
head  white,  his  "  weak  and  broken  body  leaning  on  a 
staff,  and  even  so,  scarcely  able  to  stand."  Five  days 
later  (July  6th),  he  was  executed  on  Tower  Hill.  The 
scaffold  was  unsteady,  and,  as  he  put  his  foot  on  the 
ladder,  he  said  to  the  lieutenant,  "I  pray  thee  see 
me  safe  up,  and  for  my  coming  down  let  me  shift  for 
myself."  After  kneeling  down  on  the  scaffold,  and 
repeating  the  Psalm,  "  Have  mercy  upon  me,  O  God  " 
(Ps.  li.),  which  had  always  been  his  favourite 
prayer,  he  placed  his  head  on  the  low  log  that  served 
as  a  block,  and  received  the  fatal  stroke.  / 

Another  victim,  scarcely  less  illustrious  than  the 
Chancellor,  was  John  Fisher,  Cardinal  of  the  Holy 
Roman  Church,  and  Bishop  of  Rochester  (1459-1535), 
whose  worn  face,  with  its  "  anxiously  conscientious 
expression,"  lives  for  us  in  the  powerful  sketch  of 
Holbein.  His  public  services,  his  reputation  at  home 
and  abroad,  his  pure  and  simple  life,  his  charities,  his 
great  but  unostentatious  learning,  made  his  refusal  to 
take  the  oaths  of  succession  and  supremacy  a  matter 
of  extreme  importance.  A  collector  of  books,  the 
owner  of  the  best  private  library  in  England,  an  early 
master  of  English  prose,  he  was  a  friend  of  Erasmus, 
who  wrote  of  him  in  1510  :  "Either  I  am  much  mis- 


JOHN  FISHER  131 

taken,  or  Fisher  is  a  man  with  whom  none  of  our 
contemporaries  can  be  compared,  for  holiness  of  life 
or  greatness  of  soul."  In  his  sermons  on  the  Peni- 
tential Psalms,  preached  in  English,  early  in  the 
sixteenth  century,  at  the  "sterynge"  of  the  Lady 
Margaret,  Countess  of  Richmond,  occurs  a  passage, 
which  unconsciously  foreshadows  the  part  that,  thirty 
years  later,  he  was  himself  to  play.  He  is  commenting 
on  Psalm  cii.,  verse  13,  "  Thou  shalt  arise,  and  have 
mercy  upon  Sion  :  for  it  is  time  that  Thou  have  mercy 
upon  her,  yea,  the  time  is  come."  He  shows  that 
when  the  Church  was  first  built,  the  soft  slipper  earth 
in  which  the  foundation  was  set  was  hardened  into 
stone  by  the  fire  of  Love.  Peter,  who  denied  his 
Master,  became  a  rock.  So  now  he  prays  that  God 
may  "  chaunge  and  make  the  softe  and  slypper  erth 
into  harde  stones,"  and  "  set  in  Thy  chirche  stronge 
and  myghty  pyllers  that  may  sufire  and  endure  grete 
labours,  watchynge,  pouerte,  thurst,  hungre,  colde,  and 
hete,  whiche  also  shall  not  fere  the  thretnynges  of 
prynces,  persecucyon  neyther  deth  .  .  .  for  the  glory 
and  laude  of  Thy  holy  name."  For  the  glory  of  God, 
as  he  in  his  conscience  believed,  Fisher  braved 
threats,  persecution,  and  death. 

Fourteen  months  of  imprisonment  in  the  Bell 
Tower  of  the  Tower  of  London  were  passed  by  Fisher, 
partly  in  writing  two  devotional  treatises  for  the 
use  of  his  sister.  Possibly  the  action  of  Paul  III., 
who,  May  20th,  1535,  created  the  bishop  a  cardinal, 
hastened  his  execution.  On  Thursday,  June  17th, 
he  was  sentenced :  on  the  following  Tuesday,  June 
22nd,  he  was  beheaded  on  Tower  Hill,  so  weak  and 
emaciated  that  he  could  scarcely  stand.  At  the  foot 
of  the  scaffold  to  which  he  had  been  carried,  his 


132  THE  REFORMATION  ERA 

strength  seemed  to  revive.  As  he  mounted  the  steps 
alone,  the  south-east  sun  shone  full  in  his  face. 
Lifting  his  hands,  he  murmured  the  words  of  Psalm 
xxxiv.,  verse  5,  "  They  had  an  eye  unto  him,  and  were 
lightened ;  and  their  faces  were  not  ashamed."  On 
the  scaffold,  after  a  few  words  to  the  spectators,  he 
knelt  down  upon  his  knees  in  prayer,  repeating  Psalm 
xxxi.,  "  In  Thee,  O  Lord,  have  I  put  my  trust."  Then, 
with  the  joyful  mien  of  a  man  who  receives  the  boon 
for  which  he  craves,  he  received  the  blow  of  the  axe 
upon  his  slender  and  feeble  neck,  and  so  passed  to 
his  rest. 

Many  monastic  houses,  as  well  as  individuals, 
refused  the  oath  of  supremacy,  and  suffered  the 
penalty  in  loss  of  life,  or  of  home  and  possessions. 
Comparatively  few  yielded  to  the  temptation  of 
accepting  it.  Conspicuous  among  the  sufferers  were 
the  Franciscans  of  the  Regular  Observance  at  Green- 
wich, headed  by  their  warden,  John  Forest,  confessor 
to  Queen  Catherine,  who  was  herself  a  tertiary  of 
the  Franciscan  Order.  The  story  of  their  sufferings 
strikingly  illustrates  the  power  of  the  Psalms.  But, 
as  Forest's  life,  for  some  unknown  reason,  was  spared 
till  1538,  an  earlier  victim  may  be  chosen  from  another 
Order,  John  Haughton,  prior  of  the  London  Charter- 
house, a  zealous  servant  of  God,  governing  his 
community  by  example  rather  than  by  precept.  He 
had  been  twenty  years  a  monk,  before  the  reign  of 
Henry  VIII.  disturbed  the  peace  of  his  cloistered 
life.  Neither  he  nor  his  monks  had  meddled  in  the 
question  of  the  king's  marriage ;  but  when,  in  1533, 
the  Commissioners  asked  his  opinion  on  the  divorce 
of  Catherine  of  Arragon,  he  boldly  said  that  he  could 
not  understand  how  a  marriage,  ratified  by  the  Church 


THE  LONDON  CHARTERHOUSE  133 

and  so  long  unquestioned,  could  now  be  undone.  In 
1535,  Henry  assumed  the  title  of  Supreme  Head,  and 
the  prior  prepared  for  the  end  which  he  saw  approach- 
ing. From  the  text,  "O  God,  Thou  hast  cast  us 
out,  and  scattered  us  abroad"  (Ps.  lx.,  verse  1),  he 
preached  a  sermon  in  the  chapel,  ending  with  the 
words,  "  It  is  better  that  we  should  suffer  here  a  short 
penance  for  our  faults,  than  be  reserved  for  the  eternal 
pains  of  Hell  hereafter."  Then  he  and  the  brethren, 
each  from  each,  implored  pardon  for  any  offence  they 
might  have  committed  by  thought,  word,  or  deed, 
against  one  another,  and,  thus  prepared,  awaited  their 
fate.  Haughton,  and  the  priors  of  two  daughter 
houses,  refused  to  acknowledge  the  new  title,  were 
tried  for  treason,  condemned,  and,  on  May  4th,  1535, 
executed  at  Tyburn,  with  all  the  horrible  barbarities 
of  the  time.  Haughton  suffered  first.  "  Pray  for  me," 
he  said,  "  and  have  mercy  on  my  brethren,  of  whom  I 
have  been  the  unworthy  prior."  Then,  kneeling  down, 
and  reciting  a  few  verses  of  Psalm  xxxi.,  he  calmly 
resigned  himself  into  the  hands  of  the  executioner. 
All  died  with  the  same  calm,  unflinching  courage. 

In  the  case  of  England,  whatever  might  have  been 
the  personal  wishes  of  Henry  VIII.,  there  could  be 
no  turning  back.  Directly  attacked  by  the  Protestant 
Reformers,  threatened  from  various  directions  by  the 
New  Learning,  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  roused 
herself  from  her  torpor.  The  assault  was  not  only 
checked,  but  for  the  time  driven  back ;  lost  ground 
was  recovered ;  new  spheres  of  work  were  conquered. 
Among  all  the  adherents  who  rallied  to  the  defence 
of  the  Church,  none  were  more  zealous,  none  more 
self-devoted,  none,  in  two  different  senses  of  the  word, 
more  successful,  than  St  Francis  Xavier  or  St  Teresa. 


134  THE  REFORMATION  ERA 

On  December  2nd,  1552,  Francis  Xavier  lay  dying 
on  the  island  of  San  Chan,  half  a  day's  sail  from 
Canton.  Winged  by  pity,  armed  by  faith,  and  fired 
by  love,  he  had  travelled  seas  and  explored  lands  that 
were  only  known  to  Europe  by  vague  report.  He  had 
braved  dangers  and  endured  privations  which  might 
well  be  thought  superhuman,  and  literally  compassed 
sea  and  land  to  win  a  single  human  soul  to  Christi- 
anity. The  spirit  of  love  which  is  breathed  in  the 
well-known  hymn  attributed  to  his  pen  ("  O  Deus,  ego 
amo  Te  "),*  was  the  consuming  passion  of  his  life  : 

"  My  God !  I  love  Thee,  not  to  gain 
The  bliss  of  Thy  eternal  Reign, 
Nor  to  escape  the  fiery  Lot 
Reserved  for  those  that  love  Thee  not. 
Thou,  Thou,  my  Jesu,  on  the  Tree 
Didst  in  Thine  Arms  encompass  me. 

"  Thou  didst  endure  the  Nails,  the  Lance, 

Disgraces  manifold,  the  Trance 

Of  Bloody  Sweat,  and  boundless  Seas 

Of  Bitterness  and  Anguishes, 

Nay  even  Death's  last  Agony — 

And  this  for  me — for  sinful  me ! 

Most  loving  Jesu,  shall  this  move 
No  like  return  of  Love  for  Love? 

"  Above  all  things  I  love  Thee  best, 
Yet  not  with  Thought  of  Interest : 
Not  thus  to  win  Thy  promised  Land, 
Not  thus  to  ward  Thy  threat'ning  Hand ; 
But  as  Thou  lov'st  me,  so  do  I 
Love,  and  shall  ever  love — and  why  ? 

Because  Thou  art  my  God  and  King, 
The  Source  and  End  of  Everything." 

*  The  version  given  above  enters  into  no  vain  competition  with 
Caswall's  beautiful  rendering  of  the  hymn ;  but  it  may  be  thought 
to  preserve  more  faithfully  the  mediaeval  quaintness  of  the 
original. 


FRANCIS  XAVIER  135 

It  had  been  Xavier's  ambition  to  carry  the  Gospel 
message  to  China.  But  for  weeks  he  could  find  no 
one  who  dared  to  brave  the  penal  laws  of  that  country. 
It  was  death  for  foreigners  to  enter  the  empire ;  it 
was  death  to  anyone  who  conveyed  them  within  its 
borders.  At  last  he  bribed  a  merchant  to  land  him 
on  the  coast.  Fever  struck  him  down  while  await- 
ing the  arrival  of  his  agent,  "  tendentemque  manus 
ripae  ulterioris  amore."  For  a  fortnight  he  lay  in  his 
cabin  :  then  he  was  put  on  shore,  and  a  shelter  was 
hastily  erected  of  brushwood  and  coarse  grass.  Feel- 
ing that  his  end  was  near,  he  desired  that  his  attend- 
ants should  leave  the  hut.  Far  from  his  native  land, 
without  a  friend  at  his  side,  racked  with  pain,  his 
death  is  enviable  even  by  the  happiest  of  mankind. 
To  mortal  eyes  he  was  alone.  But  to  his  unclouded 
vision  there  floated  round  him  bright  forms  ready  to 
bear  him  to  his  heavenly  home,  and,  as  the  wings  of 
the  approaching  angel  of  death  winnowed  the  mists 
from  before  his  eyes,  he  saw  the  blessed  figure  of  his 
Master  standing  with  outstretched  arms  to  welcome 
His  faithful  servant.  As  he  entered  the  dark  valley, 
the  glow  upon  his  face  was  of  sunrise,  not  of  sunset ; 
and  it  was  a  ray  from  the  Divine  Presence  itself  which 
lit  up  his  face,  as  with  an  expiring  effort  he  fixed  his 
eyes  upon  his  crucifix,  and,  gathering  all  his  strength 
to  utter  the  words,  "  In  Thee,  O  Lord,  have  I  put  my 
trust :  let  me  never  be  put  to  confusion  "  (Ps.  xxxi., 
verse  1),  breathed  his  last. 

Xavier  has  been  called  the  canonised  saint  of 
Europe.  It  is  not,  on  the  other  hand,  everyone  who 
sympathises  with  the  mysticism  of  Teresa,  or  gives 
credence  to  her  visions.  Yet  few  can  withhold  their 
admiration  from  the  solitary,  sickly  woman,  who  re- 


136  THE  REFORMATION  ERA 

stored  the  austerities  of  Spanish  conventual  life,  and 
replanted  in  Spain  the  great  monastic  ideals  of  poverty, 
humility,  and  self-sacrifice. 

Born  in  1515,  at  Avila,  she  began  in  early  child- 
hood to  show  the  bent  of  her  mind.  The  lives  of 
saints  were  her  nursery  tales ;  her  doll's  house  was  a 
nunnery ;  at  the  age  of  seven,  she  set  out  with  her 
little  brother  to  walk  to  Africa,  and  win  from  the  Moors 
the  crown  of  martyrdom.  Such  a  childhood  prepares 
us  for  a  life  of  ascetic  zeal :  it  gives  no  hint  of  the 
calm,  self-reliant,  tranquil  nature,  which,  combined 
with  ready  wit,  charm  of  manner,  and  an  eloquent 
tongue,  enthralled  the  greatest  of  Spanish  grandees. 
Her  enthusiasm,  her  patience,  her  adroitness 
triumphed  over  difficulties  which  others  would  have 
found  insuperable.  Though  continually  harassed  by 
intrigues  and  opposition,  she  established  sixteen 
nunneries  of  the  Reformed  Carmelites  and  fourteen 
foundations  of  friars  belonging  to  the  same  Rule.  In 
worldly  matters  shrewd,  energetic,  and  a  keen  judge 
of  character,  Teresa  seemed  a  different  being  from  the 
enraptured  mystic  who  in  her  autobiography  —  a 
favourite  book  of  the  Duke  of  Alva — sets  down  her 
visions  and  illuminations.  Nowhere,  and  by  no  man 
or  woman,  was  a  stronger  resistance  offered  to  the 
new  ideas  that  warred  against  mediaeval  opinions  than 
was  made  in  Spain  by  Teresa.  At  her  voice  the  dying 
aspirations  of  a  previous  age  revived,  as  she  travelled 
through  the  country,  attracting  to  her  austere,  ascetic 
Eule  many  of  the  best  and  most  conscientious  men  and 
women  of  the  day.  The  little  inns  where  she  stopped 
in  her  ceaseless  wanderings  are  still,  after  the  lapse 
of  three  centuries,  hallowed  spots  to  the  inhabitants 
of  rural  Spain. 


TERESA  137 

About  Teresa  hangs  the  pathos  of  a  lost  cause, 
though  she  herself  was  spared  the  pain  of  disillusion. 
She  did  not  live  to  see  the  edifice,  on  which  she  had 
lavished  the  labours  of  a  lifetime,  crumbling  to  decay. 
Death  came  to  the  worn-out  woman  at  Alba,  October 
4th,  1582.  On  her  lips  were  the  words  (Ps.  li., 
verses  10-11,  17),  "Make  me  a  clean  heart,  O  God, 
and  renew  a  right  spirit  within  me.  Cast  me  not  away 
from  Thy  presence,  and  take  not  Thy  holy  Spirit  from 
me.  The  sacrifice  of  God  is  a  troubled  spirit;  a 
broken  and  contrite  heart,  O  God,  shalt  Thou  not 
despise." 

First  from  one  side,  then  from  the  other,  as  the 
fierce  struggle  between  Roman  Catholic  and  Protes- 
tant swayed  backwards  and  forwards,  the  note  of 
encouragement,  comfort,  or  deliverance  sounds  clear 
and  high  for  combatants  on  either  side,  in  the  verses 
of  the  Psalms.  As  More,  Fisher,  and  Haughton, 
or  as  Xavier  and  Teresa,  had  drawn  strength  from 
the  Psalter,  so,  in  their  day  of  trial,  Protestants  like 
Bishop  Hooper,  or  Bishop  Ridley,  and  at  a  later 
stage  in  the  struggle,  Jesuits  like  Robert  Southwell, 
faced  the  terrors  of  the  stake  and  the  torment  of 
the  rack  with  words  from  the  same  book  upon  their 
lips,  and,  as  they  spoke  them,  seemed  possessed  by  a 
heavenly  ecstasy. 

John  Hooper,  at  the  close  of  the  reign  of  Henry 
VIII.,  had  fled  for  his  life  to  Strasburg  ;  had  married, 
and,  March  1547,  settled  at  Zurich.  Two  years  later, 
he  determined  to  return  to  England,  in  order  to  help 
those  who  were  contending  for  the  religious  principles 
which  he  himself  zealously  advocated.  He  knew  his 
danger.  Taking  leave  of  his  friend  Bullinger  in  March 
1549,  he  used  words  prophetic  of  his  fate.  He 


138  THE  REFORMATION  ERA 

promised  to  write  to  those  who  had  shown  him  so 
much  kindness;  "but,"  he  added,  "the  last  news  of 
all,  I  shall  not  be  able  to  write :  for  there,  where  I 
shall  take  most  pains,  there  shall  you  hear  of  me  to 
be  burnt  to  ashes."  In  1551,  he  was  consecrated 
Bishop  of  Gloucester.  No  man  ever  entered  upon  his 
work  with  a  stricter  sense  of  duty.  If  he  erred,  it  was 
in  the  severity  of  the  discipline  which  he  exacted  from 
himself  as  well  as  from  others.  On  the  accession  of 
Queen  Mary,  he  was  a  marked  man.  He  might  have 
escaped,  but  he  refused.  "  I  am,"  he  said,  "  thoroughly 
persuaded  to  tarry,  and  to  live  and  die  with  my  sheep." 
In  September  1553,  he  was  committed  to  the  Fleet 
prison,  to  a  "  vile  and  stinking  chamber,"  with  nothing 
for  his  bed  but  a  "  little  pad  of  straw  "  and  "  a  rotten 
covering."  In  his  prison  he  wrote  an  "Exposition" 
of  Psalms  xxiii.,  Ixii.,  Ixxiii.,  Ixxvii.  "All  men  and 
women "  he  says,  "  have  this  life  and  this  world 
appointed  unto  them  for  their  winter  and  season  of 
storms.  The  summer  draweth  near,  and  then  shall 
we  be  fresh,  orient,  sweet,  amiable,  pleasant,  accept- 
able, immortal,  and  blessed,  for  ever  and  ever ;  and  no 
man  shall  take  us  from  it.  We  must,  therefore,  in  the 
meantime  learn  out  of  this  verse  to  say  unto  God, 
whether  it  be  winter  or  summer,  pleasure  or  pain, 
liberty  or  imprisonment,  life  or  death,  *  Truly  God  is 
loving  unto  Israel,  even  unto  such  as  be  of  a  clean 
heart"  (Ps.  Ixxiii.,  verse  1).  To  his  wife,  Anne 
Hooper,  who  had  escaped  to  the  continent,  he  wrote 
a  letter  (October  13th,  1553),  bidding  her  read  Psalm 
Ixxvii.  ("I  will  cry  unto  God  with  my  voice,  "  etc.), 
because  of  the  "  great  consolation  "  which  it  contains 
for  those  who  are  "in  anguish  of  mind  ;  and  Psalm 
Ixxxvii.,  "  wherein  is  contained  the  prayer  of  a  man 


JOHN  HOOPER  139 

that  was  brought  into  extreme  anguish  and  misery, 
and,  being  vexed  with  adversaries  and  persecutions, 
saw  nothing  but  death  and  hell."  Also  he  recom- 
mends Psalms  vi.,  xxii.,  xxx.,  xxxi.,  xxxviii.,  Ixix.,  for 
their  lessons  of  "  patience  and  consolation  "  at  times 
"  when  the  mind  can  take  no  understanding,  nor  the 
heart  any  joy  of  God's  promises." 

^It  was  not  till  February  9th,  1555,  that,  by  his 
death,  Hooper  passed  from  the  winter  of  imprisonment 
into  the  summer  of  eternal  life.  The  bishop  had  been 
sent  to  Gloucester  for  execution.  If  his  enemies 
hoped  that  his  demeanour  at  the  stake  would  weaken 
his  hold  upon  his  people,  they  were  disappointed. 
With  unflinching  courage,  he  met  the  tortures  of  the 
fire  —  needlessly  protracted  for  three-quarters  of  an 
hour  by  the  greenness  and  insufficiency  of  the  materials, 
resigning  himself  to  his  fate  with  the  words,  which 
More,  Fisher,  and,  it  may  be  added,  Thomas  Cromwell 
had  used,  "  Into  Thy  handes  I  commend  my  spirite ; 
Thou  haste  redeemed  me,  O  God  of  truthe" 
(Ps.  xxxi.,  verse  6). 

Psalm  ci.  was  the  favourite  psalm  of  Nicholas 
Eidley  (1500-55),  Bishop  of  London.  He  often,  as 
Fox  relates,  read  and  expounded  it  to  his  household 
at  Fulham,  "  being  marvellous  careful  over  his  family, 
that  they  might  be  a  spectacle  of  all  virtue  and  honesty 
to  others."  On  the  night  preceding  his  execution, 
his  brother  offered  to  pass  his  last  hours  in  his  company. 
But  the  bishop  refused,  saying  that  he  meant  to  go  to 
bed  and  sleep  as  quietly  as  he  ever  did  in  his  life  : — 
"  I  will  lay  me  down  in  peace,  and  take  my  rest ;  for 
ifc  is  Thou,  Lord,  only,  that  makest  me  dwell  in  safety  " 
(Psalm  iv.,  verse  9).  The  next  morning  he  was 
chained  to  the  stake  in  the  town  ditch,  opposite  the 


140  THE  REFORMATION  ERA 

south  front  of  Balliol  College,  Oxford.  As  the  flames 
rose  round  him,  he  exclaimed,  "with  a  wonderful 
loud  voice,  In  manus  tuas,  Domine,  commendo 
spiritum  meum  (Ps.  xxxi.,  verse  6) :  Domine,  recipe 
spiritum  meum"  and  then  in  English,  "Lord,  Lord, 
receive  my  spirit." 

Equally  courageous,  equally  firm  in  their  religious 
convictions,  were  those,  who,  as  the  tide  of  victory 
ebbed  and  flowed,  suffered  a  violent  death  on 
the  other  side.  The  dungeons  in  the  Tower  still 
record  the  power  of  the  Psalms  to  soothe  the  "  sorrow- 
ful sighing  "  of  Koman  Catholics  who  suffered  for  their 
faith.  Here,  for  example,  are  the  words  of  Ps.  cxi., 
verse  10  ("  The  fear  of  the  Lord  is  the  beginning  of 
wisdom"),  inscribed  by  Charles  Bailly  on  the  walls 
of  his  cell  in  the  Beauchamp  or  Cobham  Tower: 
"Principium  sapientie  timor  Domini,  I.H.S.X.P.S. 
Be  frend  to  one.  Be  ennemye  to  none.  Anno  D. 
1571,  10  Sept."  Here,  again,  is  the  inscription  carved 
by  Philip  Howard,  Earl  of  Arundel,  in  1587  :  "  Gloria 
et  honore  eum  coronasti  Domine  "  ("Thou  madest 
him  lower  than  the  angels ;  to  crown  him  with  glory 
and  worship,"  Ps.  viii.,  verse  5).  Here,  lastly,  is 
another,  hidden  for  three  centuries  under  the  white- 
wash in  St  Martin's  Tower,  and  only  brought  to  light 
in  1902.  Beneath  an  emblem  of  the  Trinity  appear 
the  sacred  letters  "I.H.S.,"  and  then  the  name, 
"George  Beisley,  Priest."  On  the  left  is  a  shield 
containing  thefleur  de  Us,  the  word  "Maria,"  and  the 
date  "  1590."  A  mutilated  Latin  inscription  follows, 
in  which  words  are  illegible  or  wanting ;  but  it  seems 
to  be  from  Ps.  xlii.,  verse  l:*"Like  as  the  hart 
desireth  the  water-brooks ;  so  longeth  my  soul  after 
Thee,  O  God."  But  in  the  history  of  Robert  South- 


ROBERT  SOUTHWELL  141 

well,  a  Jesuit  and  an  Elizabethan  poet,  the  power  of 
the  Psalms  is  illustrated  in  fullest  detail.  Born  in 
1560,  he  came  to  England  twenty-six  years  later, 
knowing  well  the  peril  that  he  ran.  To  be  a  Roman 
Catholic  was  a  crime ;  to  be  a  priest,  high  treason ;  to 
be  a  Jesuit  was  to  be  a  wild  beast  and  hunted  down 
as  vermin.  In  a  letter,  written  in  January  1590,  he 
describes  the  fate  of  two  priests  and  other  brethren 
in  Bridewell,  a  fate  which  at  any  moment  might  be 
his  own.  "Some,"  he  says,  "are  there  hung  up,  for 
whole  days,  by  the  hands,  in  such  manner  that  they 
can  but  just  touch  the  ground  with  the  tips  of  their 
toes.  In  fine,  they  that  are  kept  in  that  prison  truly  live 
in  the  horrible  pit,  in  the  mire  and  clay  (Ps.  xl.,  verse 
2).  This  purgatory  we  hourly  look  for,  in  which 
TopclifFe  and  Young  .  .  .  exercise  all  manners  of 
torments.  But  come  what  pleaseth  God,  we  hope 
that  we  shall  be  able  to  bear  all  in  Him  that 
strengthens  us.  In  the  meantime,  we  pray  that  they 
may  be  put  to  confusion  that  work  iniquity ;  and  that 
the  Lord  may  speak  peace  to  His  people,  that,  as  the 
royal  prophet  says,  '  His  glory  may  dwell  in  our  land ' " 
(Ps.  Ixxxv.,  verse  9). 

In  a  later  letter  he  alludes  to  the  martyrdoms  of 
Bayles  and  Homer,  and  the  effect  which  their  holy 
ends  had  produced  upon  the  people,  "  With  such  dews 
as  these  the  Church  is  watered,  ut  in  stillicidiis  hujus- 
modi  Icetetur  germinans  (Ps.  Ixv.,  verse  11).  We  also 
look  for  the  time  (if  we  are  not  unworthy  of  so  great 
a  glory)  when  our  day  (like  that  of  the  hired  servant) 
shall  come." 

He  had  not  long  to  wait.  In  1592  he  was  betrayed 
by  a  woman,  Anne  Bellamy,  into  the  hands  of  Top- 
cliffe,  who  boasted  that  "  he  never  did  take  so  weighty 


142  THE  REFORMATION  ERA 

a  man,  if  he  be  rightly  considered."  Thirteen  times 
tortured,  no  word  was  wrung  from  him.  Not 
even  would  he  confess  the  colour  of  the  horse  on 
which  he  had  ridden,  lest  his  enemies  should  gain  a 
clue  to  his  companion.  Thus,  to  quote  his  own  words, 
with  "murd'red  life"  he  couched  in  "Death's  abode," 
sighing  for  the  kindly  touch  of  death  to  end  his 
misery : 

"  O  Life !  what  letts  thee  from  a  quicke  decease  ? 

0  Death  !  what  drawes  thee  from  a  present  praye  ? 
My  feast  is  done,  my  soule  would  be  at  ease, 

My  grace  is  said ;  O  death !  come  take  away. 

"  I  live,  but  such  a  life  as  ever  dyes ; 

1  dye,  but  such  a  death  as  never  endes ; 
My  death  to  end  my  dying  life  denyes, 
And  life  my  living  death  no  whitt  amends." 

In  his  lonely  misery,  he  compares  himself  like 
David  to  the  sparrow  and  the  pelican  (Ps.  cii.,  verses 
6,7): 

"  In  eaves  sole  sparrowe  sitts  not  more  alone, 
Nor  mourning  pelican  in  desert  wilde, 
Than  sely  I,  that  solitary  mone, 
From  highest  hopes  to  hardest  happ  exil'd  : 
Sometyme,  O  blisfull  tyme !  was  Vertue's  meede 
Ayme  to  my  thoughtes,  guide  to  my  word  and  deede. 
But  feares  are  now  my  pheares,*  greife  my  delight, 
My  teares  my  drinke,  my  famisht  thoughtes  my  bredd ; 
Day  full  of  dumpes,  nurse  of  unrest  the  nighte, 
My  garmentes  gives,!  a  bloody  feilde  my  bedd ; 
My  sleape  is  rather  death  than  deathe's  allye, 
Yet  kill'd  with  murd'ring  pangues  I  cannot  dye." 

Three  years  he  lingered  in  prison,  first  in  a  filthy 
dungeon  in  the  Tower,  and  then  in  a  better  cell,  where 

*  I.e.,  companions  or  bedfellows, 
t  I.e.,  fetters. 


SOUTHWELL'S  EXECUTION  143 

he  was  allowed  the  books  for  which  he  asked — the 
Bible  and  the  Works  of  St  Bernard.  At  last  his  end 
came.  On  February  21st,  1595,  he  was  drawn  on  a 
sledge  from  Newgate  through  the  streets  to  Tyburn. 
Rising  up  in  the  cart,  with  pinioned  hands,  and  with 
the  rope  round  his  neck,  he  made  a  short  address  to 
the  people  who  had  flocked  to  see  his  execution.  Then, 
looking  for  the  cart  to  be  drawn  away,  he  blessed 
himself  as  well  as  his  bonds  allowed,  and  "  with  his 
eyes  rais'd  up  to  heaven,  repeated,  with  great  calmness 
of  mind  and  countenance,  these  words  of  the  Psalmist, 
'Into  Thy  hands,  0  Lord,  I  commend  my  spirit7" 
(Ps.  xxxi.,  verse  6).  Such  was  the  effect  produced 
by  his  courage,  that  the  bystanders  interfered  to 
prevent  the  executioner  from  cutting  the  rope  till  he 
was  dead,  in  order  that  the  ghastly  formalities  of 
disembowelling  and  quartering  might  not  be  carried 
out  on  his  living  body. 


CHAPTEE  VI 

THE   STRUGGLE   BETWEEN   PROTESTANT   ENGLAND 
AND   ROMAN   CATHOLIC   SPAIN 

The  Psalms  in  the  vulgar  tongue,  the  English  Prayer-book  version  ; 
metrical  translations,  Germany,  France,  England,  Scotland ; 
growth  of  the  influence  of  the  Psalms  in  the  sixteenth  and 
seventeenth  centuries  ;  Lady  Jane  Grey ;  the  Duke  of  Suffolk  ; 
Counts  Egmont  and  Horn ;  accession  of  Queen  Elizabeth ; 
the  murder  of  Darnley ;  execution  of  Mary  Queen  of  Scots ; 
the  Spanish  Armada;  the  Turkey  merchantmen;  the  wreck 
of  the  Tobie ;  the  Earl  of  Essex;  Burghley;  Lord  Bacon; 
Shakespeare ;  Richard  Hooker  ;  Bishop  Jewel ;  George 
Herbert;  Hooker  on  the  Psalms. 

THROUGHOUT  the  Middle  Ages,  the  Bible  as  a  whole 
was,  except  to  the  clergy,  a  sealed  book.  But  the 
Psalms  were  permitted  to  be  in  the  hands  of  laymen ; 
the  Council  of  Toulouse  (1220)  excepted  them  from 
the  general  prohibition  which  forbade  the  use  of  the 
Old  Testament  to  the  laity.  Versions  in  Anglo- 
Saxon,  Anglo-Norman,  or  Old  English,  are  among 
the  earliest  specimens  of  our  vernacular  literature. 
The  translation  and  commentary  of  Richard  Eolle  of 
Hainpole  (circ.  1325)  illustrate,  on  its  spiritual  side, 
one  of  the  movements  which  led  up  to  the  Reforma- 
tion. Mediaeval  Primers  contained  a  selection  of  the 
Psalms,  sundry  prayers,  and  a  Kalendar  in  which 
were  sometimes  entered  the  births  and  deaths  of 

144 


THE  PSALMS  IN  VERSE  145 

families,  or  the  dates  of  events  like  the  battles  in  the 
Wars  of  the  Roses.  Our  Prayer-book  version  of 
the  Psalter  in  prose,  originally  made  by  Tyndall  and 
Coverdale,  subsequently  corrected  by  Cranmer  and 
his  colleagues,  was  put  forth  in  the  Bishops'  Bible 
of  1541.  Its  rhythmic  movement  preserves  something 
of  the  cadenced  and  sonorous  roll  of  the  Latin  version, 
and  thus,  by  wedding  English  words  to  mediaeval  har- 
monies, it  links  together  old  and  new  forms  of  divine 
worship.  Translated  into  the  vulgar  tongue,  the 
Psalms  seemed  to  gather  fresh  youth  and  vigour. 
They  gained  their  full  power,  answering  every  need, 
adapting  themselves  to  all  spiritual  conditions.  Now 
the  stream  of  historical  association,  already  broad  and 
deep,  becomes  a  flood,  whose  force  and  volume  are 
swollen  by  metrical  translations  set  to  music,  and 
sung  by  congregations  at  public  worship. 

The  Psalms  in  Latin,  as  well  as  hymns  and 
sequences  in  the  same  tongue,  had  been  consecrated 
by  centuries  of  use  in  public  worship.  But  they  were 
chanted  by  priests  or  choristers,  and  to  the  people 
they  were  for  the  most  part  unintelligible.  Church 
hymns  to  be  sung  by  the  whole  congregation  in  the 
vulgar  tongue  were  the  special  creation  of  the 
Lutherans.  To  Luther  the  German  people  owed  not 
only  the  catechism,  and  the  Bible,  translated  into 
forcible,  racy,  idiomatic  language,  but  also  a  hymn- 
book.  Three  of  his  best  known  hymns,  "Ach  Gott 
vom  Himmel,  sieh  darein"  (Ps.  xii  :  "Ah  God,  from 
heav'n  look  down,  and  see"),  "Ein'  feste  Burg" 
(Ps.  xlvi.),  "  Aus  tiefer  Noth  schrei  ich  zu  dir"  (Ps. 
cxxx. :  "  Out  of  the  depths  I  cry  to  Thee "),  are 
founded  on  psalms.  Burkhard  Waldis  of  Hesse 
(1485-1557)  versified  the  whole  Psalter,  and  other 


146    STRUGGLE  BETWEEN  ENGLAND  AND  SPAIN 

Lutherans  like  Justus  Jonas  ("Wo  Gott  der  Herr 
nicht  bei  uns  halt,"  Ps.  cxxiv. :  "If  God  were  not 
upon  our  side"),  or  Philip  Nicolai  ("Wie  schon 
leuchtet  der  Morgenstern,"  Ps.  xlv.  :  "O  Morning 
Star !  how  fair  and  bright "),  or  Paul  Gerhardt  ("  Ich, 
der  ich  oft  in  tiefes  Leid,"  Ps.  cxlv.  :  "  I  who  so  oft 
in  deep  distress "),  followed  Luther  in  basing  their 
hymns  on  psalms.  But  their  special  contributions 
to  divine  worship  were  rather  original  hymns  than 
metrical  versions  of  the  Psalter.  The  French  Luth- 
eran Church  held  the  same  views  as  their  German 
brethren.  But  with  other  Reformed  bodies,  and 
especially  with  the  followers  of  Calvin  or  Zwingli,  it 
was  different.  Separating  more  entirely  from  the  past, 
revolting  from  the  human  intervention  of  the  priesthood 
in  prayer  or  praise,  worshipping  the  Bible  as  a  new- 
found book,  venerating  its  text  with  almost  super 
stitious  reverence, they  rejected  original  hymns,  treated 
the  Hebrew  Psalter  as  the  only  inspired  manual  of 
devotional  praise,  and  concentrated  their  efforts  on 
adapting  its  language  to  congregational  singing.  The 
Psalms,  in  metrical  versions,  thus  gained  new  dignity, 
authority,  and  popularity,  by  their  exclusive  use  in 
the  public  worship  of  the  Reformed  Churches.  The 
more  completely  the  Reformers  severed  themselves 
from  the  Middle  Ages,  the  more  absolutely  they  swept 
away  the  venerable  liturgies,  and  beautiful  hymns  of 
the  Fathers  and  Doctors  of  the  Church,  the  greater 
was  their  reverence  for  the  Psalms,  which  were  the 
daily  bread  of  the  Roman  Catholic  clergy. 

Early  in  the  sixteenth  century   (1533),  Clement 
Marot,*  the  favourite  of  Marguerite  de  Valois,  and 

*  Marot's  version  of  Psalm  vi.  appeared  in  1533,  at  the  end  of 
the  first  part  of  Le  Miroir  de  treschrestienne  Princesse  Marguerite  de 


THOMAS  STERNHOLD  147 

valet  de  chanibre  to  Francis  I.,  began  to  translate  the 
Psalms  into  French  verse,  and  his  translations  were 
circulated  in  manuscript  throughout  the  King's  Court. 
His  sanctes  chansonettes,  set  to  simple  ballad  tunes, 
drove  from  the  field  the  love-songs  of  gallants,  and 
Marot's  verses  were  sung  by  the  princes  and  princesses, 
the  royal  mistresses,  and  the  lords  and  ladies  of  the 
luxurious  Courts  of  Francis  I.  and  Henry  II.  The 
translation,  completed  partly  by  Marot,  partly  by 
Beza  and  others,  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  people. 
In  1558,  in  the  Pre  aux  Clercs  at  Paris,  thousands  of 
persons  assembled  every  evening  to  chant  the  Psalms 
to  the  music  of  Louis  Bourgeois,  Guillaume  Franc, 
and  Claude  Goudimel,  and  among  the  singers  might 
be  heard  the  King  of  Navarre,  and  the  greatest  nobles 
of  France. 

In  England,  in  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII.,  Thomas 
Sternhold,  "groome  of  ye  Kynges  Majesties  roobes," 
began  to  translate  the  Psalms  "for  his  own  godly 
solace."  As  a  boy  of  twelve,  so  the  story  runs, 
Edward  VI.  heard  the  "  groome  "  singing  the  Psalms 
to  the  organ,  and  expressed  his  delight  at  the  words 
and  the  music.  The  first  edition  of  Sternhold's 
Psalms,  perhaps  published  in  1548,  included  nineteen 
translations.  The  third  edition  (1551)  contained  forty- 
four  psalms,  thirty- seven  by  Sternhold  and  seven  by 
Hopkins.  In  dedicating  the  book  to  Edward  VI., 
Sternhold  says  :  "  Seeing  that  your  tender  and  godlie 
zeale  doth  more  delight  in  the  holie  songs  of  veritie 
than  in  any  faymed  rymes  of  vanytie,  I  am  encouraged 

France,  Royne  de  Navarre  .  .  .  auquel  elle  voit  et  son  neant  et  son  tout. 
Paris,  1533,  18mo.  He  did  not  continue  the  work  till  1537,  and  it 
was  not  till  1542  that  his  Trenie  Pseaulmes  de  David,  mis  enfrancoys 
par  Clement  Marot,  valet  de  chambre  du  Roy  were  published. 


148    STRUGGLE  BETWEEN  ENGLAND  AND  SPAIN 

to  travayle  further  in  the  said  booke  of  Psalms."  To 
the  versions  of  Sternhold  and  Hopkins,  seven  Psalms, 
translated  by  Whittingham,  making  fifty-one  in  all, 
were  added  in  the  Genevan  edition  of  1556.  But  the 
first  complete  version  of  the  Psalter  was  published  by 
Daye  in  1562,  and  the  renderings  were  the  work  of 
many  hands.  Another  complete  translation  into  verse 
was  made  by  Matthew  Parker,  afterwards  Archbishop 
of  Canterbury.  During  the  Marian  persecutions, 
close  search  was  made  for  him,  and  he  only  saved 
himself  by  flight.  In  one  of  his  escapes,  a  fall  from 
his  horse  probably  laid  the  seeds  of  the  disease  from 
which  he  subsequently  died.  Yet  he  seems  to  have 
passed  his  time  in  contentment,  cheered  by  the  work 
on  which  he  was  engaged.  On  his  birthday,  August 
6th,  1557,  he  wrote  in  his  Diary:  "I  persist 
in  the  same  constancy,  upholden  by  the  grace  and 
goodness  of  my  Lord  and  Saviour,  Jesus  Christ, 
by  whose  inspiration  I  have  finished  the  Book  a/ 
Psalms  turned  into  vulgar  verse."  It  was,  how- 
ever, the  composite  work  of  Sternhold,  Hopkins, 
Whittingham,  Wisedome,  William  Kethe,  John 
Craig,  and  others,  which  remained  in  general  use 
from  1563  till  1698,  when  the  old  version  was  super- 
seded in  the  Established  Church  by  that  of  Tate  and 
Brady. 

To  scholars  and  to  critics  the  metrical  translation 
often  seems  to  be  sheer  doggerel ;  yet  its  popularity 
and  its  influence  in  extending  a  knowledge  of  the 
Psalms  can  hardly  be  exaggerated.  Fuller  speaks  of 
the  versifiers  as  having  drunk  more  of  Jordan  than  of 
Helicon,  and  adds  that  two  hammerers  on  a  smith's 
anvil  would  have  made  better  music.  Queen  Elizabeth 
condemned  the  new  "  Geneva  jigs."  Edward  Phillips, 


"THE  OLD  HUNDREDTH"  149 

the  Cavalier  poet,  describes  some  one,  singing  "  with 
woful  noise," 

«  Like  a  crack'd  saints'  bell  jarring  in  the  steeple, 
Tom  Sternhold's  wretched  prick-song  for  the  people.* 

The  sound  of  psalm-singing,  as  he  heard  it  issuing 
from  a  church,  moved  the  Earl  of  Rochester  to  write 
the  lines  : 

"  Sternhold  and  Hopkins  had  great  qualms, 
When  they  translated  David's  Psalms, 

To  make  the  heart  right  glad : 
But  had  it  been  King  David's  late 
To  hear  thee  sing  and  them  translate, 

By  God !  'twould  set  him  mad  ! " 

Yet,  in  spite  of  the  judgment  of  fastidious  taste, 
the  version  was  so  popular  that,  after  the  regular 
services,  as  Bishop  Jewel  notes,  six  thousand  persons, 
old  and  young  of  both  sexes,  might  be  heard  chanting 
the  Psalms  in  metre  at  Paul's  Cross.  Mrs  Ford* 
imagined  that  the  100th  Psalm  would  not  agree 
with  the  tune  of  "Green  sleeves."  But  the  "grand 
old  Puritan  anthem, "t  "All  people  that  on  earth 
do  dwell,"  composed  by  William  Kethe,  a  friend  of 
John  Knox,  and  set  to  the  music  of  Louis  Bourgeois, 
survives  all  the  changes  of  thought  or  fashion  that 
the  progress  of  four  centuries  has  witnessed. 

In  Scotland  it  had  been  the  ambition  of  James  I. 
to  reunite  once  more  the  offices  of  king  and  psalmist. 
But  though  his  version,  to  which  he  is  said  to  have 
contributed  thirty  psalms,  was  sanctioned  by  Charles  I. 
in  1634,  it  was  never  accepted  by  the  Scottish 
people.  They  clung  to  the  book  introduced  by  Knox 

*  "  Merry  Wives  of  Windsor,"  Act  II.,  scene  1. 

t  Longfellow  :  "Courtship  of  Miles  Standish,"  Canto  Hi.,  1.  40, 


150    STRUGGLE  BETWEEN  ENGLAND  AND  SPAIN 

from  Geneva,  in  which  renderings  by  Kethe,  Craig,  and 
others,  were  substituted  for  some  of  those  contained 
in  Sternhold's  Psalter.  Printed  in  1564,  it  had  been 
the  psalm-book  of  the  Scottish  Eeformers.  But  in 
1650  the  General  Assembly  adopted,  with  many  varia- 
tions, the  version  of  Francis  Kous,  an  English  Puritan, 
M.P.  for  Truro,  ultimately  Speaker  of  the  Barebones 
Parliament,  and  Provost  of  Eton  College.  In  no  other 
country,  except  France,  have  metrical  paraphrases  of 
the  Psalms  exercised  a  greater  influence  than  in  Scot- 
land. The  Lutherans  and  the  Anglicans  had  their 
hymns;  but  it  was  many  years  before  any  religious 
music  was  sung  by  Calvinist  or  Presbyterian  except 
the  Psalms  of  David. 

From  the  treasure-house  of  the  Psalter,  whether  in 
the  ancient  Latin  version,  or  in  vernacular  prose,  or 
in  rough  rhyme  wedded  to  simple  music,  Roman 
Catholics  and  Protestants  alike  drew  inspiration.  The 
Psalms  clave  to  the  memories,  and  rooted  themselves 
in  the  hearts  of  the  people.  But  the  application  of 
their  language  to  the  conduct  and  actions  of  indi- 
viduals of  every  shade  of  religious  opinion,  does  not 
exhaust  the  value  of  the  Psalter.  There  remains 
its  collective  influence  when  employed  in  common 
worship.  Whatever  changes  were  made  in  forms  of 
services,  the  Psalms  retained  their  place.  The  general 
use  of  the  same  book  united  men  who,  in  character 
and  feeling,  time  and  place,  race  and  language,  were 
widely  separated.  It  is  to  this  aspect  of  the  subject 
that  Hooker  refers,  in  commenting  upon  the  words, 
"  We  took  sweet  counsel  together ;  and  walked  in  the 
house  of  God  as  friends"  (Ps.  lv.,  verse  15).  If,  he 
argues,  community  of  worship  forges  the  chains  of 
human  love,  then  assuredly,  true  religious  feeling  is 


INCREASED  INFLUENCE  OF  THE  PSALMS     151 

fostered  and  strengthened  in  all  those  between  whom, 
in  the  hearing  of  God  Himself,  and  in  the  presence  of 
His  holy  angels,  are  interchanged  "  songs  of  comfort, 
psalms  of  praise  and  thanksgiving." 

Apart  from  the  extension  of  printing,  or  vernacular 
versions,  or  congregational  use,  there  were  circum- 
stances in  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries 
which  specially  favoured  the  growth  of  the  influence 
of  the  Psalms.  The  proscribed  Protestant  Reformer, 
the  tortured  R-oman  Catholic,  the  hunted  Huguenot  or 
Covenanter,  the  persecuted  Cevenol,  beheld  himself  in 
David  fleeing  to  the  mountains  as  a  bird  to  the  hills, 
betrayed  by  his  own  familiar  friend,  or  plunged  in  the 
mire  and  clay  of  a  prison  from  which  death  was  his 
release.  In  the  strength  of  the  Psalms,  martyrs  went 
to  the  stake,  mounted  the  scaffold,  or  endured  the 
rack.  Men,  women,  and  children,  dragged  to  gaol, 
sang  psalms  along  the  road,  and,  as  in  the  days  of  Paul 
and  Silas,  dungeons  resounded  with  earnest  praise  of 
God,  clothed  in  the  sublime  yet  familiar  language  of 
the  Psalmist.  Or,  again,  for  the  evil  was  ever  blended 
with  the  good,  it  was  with  the  words  of  the  Psalmist 
that  fanatics  denounced  their  foes,  cursed  them  with 
the  awful  imprecations  pronounced  on  the  divine 
enemies,  excused  their  own  barbarities,  and  appro- 
priated to  themselves,  in  the  presumption  of  personal 
election,  the  promises  made,  and  the  mission  given, 
to  the  chosen  people  of  God.  It  was,  for  example, 
with  Ps.  cxlix.  that  Thomas  Muntzer  stirred  up  the 
German  peasants  to  revolt,  and  that  Caspar  Schopp, 
whose  Classicum  Belli  Sacri  is  written  in  blood,  in- 
cited the  Roman  Catholic  princes  to  embark  in  the 
war  that  for  thirty  years  convulsed  Europe.  In  the 
struggle  between  Catholics  and  Protestants,  were 


152    STRUGGLE  BETWEEN  ENGLAND  AND  SPAIN 

linked  the  destinies  of  nations,  the  fate  of  dynasties, 
the  fortunes  of  illustrious  statesmen  and  famous 
captains.  When  men  of  obscure  birth  and  humble 
station  gave  up  their  lives  for  conscience'  sake,  their 
sacrifice  derives  pathos  and  effectiveness  from  their 
weakness  in  the  presence  of  temporal  power.  But, 
on  the  other  hand,  in  dramatic  impressiveness  the 
historical  grandeur  of  such  a  spectacle  is  often  en- 
hanced by  the  fame  of  the  actors,  the  importance  of 
the  issue,  or  the  magnificence  of  the  stage. 

The  long  struggle  between  Protestant  England  and 
Catholic  Spain  practically  opened  with  Monday,  July 
10th,  1553.  On  that  day,  at  three  o'clock  in  the  after- 
noon, Lady  Jane  Dudley  was  brought  in  state  from 
Richmond  to  the  Tower.  In  the  midst  of  a  "  shot 
of  gunnes  and  chamburs,"  such  as  was  rarely  heard 
before,  she  landed  at  the  broad  stairs,  a  great  com- 
pany of  nobles  and  gentry  with  her,  and  her  mother, 
the  Duchess  of  Suffolk,  bearing  her  train.  The  same 
evening,  between  six  and  seven  o'clock,  from  the 
"Crosse  in  Chepe"  to  "Fletstreet,"  three  heralds  and 
a  trumpeter  proclaimed  the  Lady  Jane  Queen  of 
England. 

But  the  friends  of  the  House  of  Grey  were  few, 
and  the  loyal  supporters  of  the  legitimate  heir  were 
many.  Even  at  Jane's  proclamation  "few  or  none 
sayd  God  save  hare."  Nine  days  later,  for  she  was 
barely  even  a  "  twelfth-day  queen,"  her  father  entered 
her  room  at  the  Tower,  and  with  his  own  hands  tore 
down  the  canopy  under  which  she  sat.  Her  brief 
reign  was  over,  Suffolk  himself  had  that  day  pro- 
claimed Mary  Queen  of  England  at  the  gates  of  the 
Tower.  Lady  Jane  received  with  simple  pleasure 
the  news  that  the  crown  was  no  longer  hers,  only 


LADY  JANE  GREY  153 

asking,  in  the  innocence  of  her  heart,  if  she  might  not 
now  go  home.  Her  palace  had  become  her  prison. 

Prisoner  though  she  was,  and  in  November  for- 
mally arraigned  for  treason  and  condemned  to  death, 
her  life  was  saved  for  a  time.  All  the  arguments 
of  Eenard,  the  ambassador  of  Charles  V.,  failed  to 
shake  Mary's  resolution  to  spare  her  fallen  rival  and 
cousin.  The  dangerous  insurrection  of  Sir  Thomas 
Wyatt,  in  which  the  Duke  of  Suffolk  had  joined,  sealed 
Jane's  fate.  On  Ash-Wednesday,  February  7th, 
1554,  the  rebellion  was  quelled.  On  Thursday, 
while  the  Te  Deum  for  the  Queen's  victory  was  sung 
in  every  church,  and  the  bells  rang  from  every  steeple 
in  London,  Feckenham,  a  gentle,  pious  old  man,  after- 
wards the  last  Abbot  of  Westminster,  was  sent  to  tell 
Lady  Jane  that  she  must  die  the  following  day,  and 
to  prepare  her  for  her  end  by  bringing  her,  if  possible, 
to  the  Eoman  faith.  A  brief  reprieve  was  afterwards 
granted,  in  order  that  Feckenham  might  have  more 
time  to  effect  her  conversion.  On  Monday,  February 
12th,  1554,  she  was  to  go  to  the  scaffold. 

Lady  Jane's  time  on  earth  was  too  short  for  theo- 
logical discussion.  Out  of  courtesy  to  Feckenham, 
she  defended  her  Protestant  opinions.  But  her  few 
remaining  hours  were  chiefly  spent  in  writing  to  her 
father,  bidding  him  not  to  reproach  himself  for  her 
death,  and  exhorting  him  to  remain  firm  in  his  religion. 
To  "Master  Harding,"  formerly  chaplain  to  the  Duke 
of  Suffolk,  "but  now  fallen  from  the  truth  of  God's 
most  Holy  Word,"  she  wrote  an  appeal,  couched  in 
vehement  language  of  reproach  for  his  apostasy.  She 
urged  him  to  lay  to  heart  "  the  saying  of  David,  in 
his  hundred  and  fourth  Psalm  (Ps.  civ.,  verses  29,  30), 
where  he  saith  thus :  'When  Thou  takest  away  Thy 


154    STRUGGLE  BETWEEN  ENGLAND  AND  SPAIN 

Spirit,  O  Lord,  from  men,  they  die,  and  are  turned 
again  to  their  dust ;  but  when  Thou  lettest  Thy  breath 
go  forth,  they  shall  be  made,  and  Thou  shalt  renew 
the  face  of  the  earth/  'Viriliter  age,'  she  adds, 
'  confortetur  cor  tuum,  sustine  Dominum '  (Ps.  xxvii., 
verse  16).  Fight  manfully,  come  life,  come  death : 
the  quarrel  is  God's,  and  undoubtedly  the  victory  is 
ours."  To  her  sister,  Lady  Katharine,  she  sent  her 
New  Testament,  urging  her  to  "  desire  with  David  to 
understand  the  law  of  the  Lord  God." 

Her  husband  was  condemned  to  die  on  the  same 
day.  He  begged  for  a  last  interview  and  a  last 
embrace.  Jane  refused.  The  meeting  could  only 
increase  their  trial,  and  disturb  their  preparation  for 
death.  In  the  other  world  they  would  meet  soon 
enough.  Yet  she  saw  her  husband  twice.  Her  place 
of  imprisonment  was  in  "  Partrige's  house,"  tradition- 
ally the  Brick  Tower,  on  the  north-east  side  of  the 
fortress.  Lord  Guildford  Dudley  was  taken  out  of 
the  Tower,  "  about  ten  of  the  clocke,  to  the  scaffolde 
on  Tower  Hill."  The  procession  passed  under  her 
window,  from  which  she  thus  once  more  saw  him 
alive.  She  saw  him  yet  again.  His  body  was  thrown 
into  a  cart,  the  head  being  wrapped  in  a  cloth,  and 
carried  back  to  "  the  chappell  within  the  Tower,  wher 
the  Lady  Jane  dyd  see  his  dead  carcase  taken  out  of 
the  cart,  as  well  as  she  dyd  see  him  before  on  lyve 
going  to  his  deathe — a  sight  to  hir  no  lesse  than 
death." 

But  the  sight  did  not  shake  her  own  firm  resolu- 
tion. The  scaffold  on  which  she  was  to  die,  was 
prepared  "  upon  the  grene  over  against  the  White 
Tower."  She  was  led  forth  from  the  prison  by  the 
Lieutenant  of  the  Tower,  Sir  John  Brydges,  wearing 


EXECUTION  OF  LADY  JANE  GREY     155 

the  same  dress  in  which  she  had  been,  in  the  previous 
November,  conducted  on  foot,  the  axe  borne  before 
her,  to  be  arraigned  for  treason  at  the  Guildhall.  In 
her  hand  she  carried  a  book,  from  which  she  prayed 
until  she  came  to  the  foot  of  the  scaffold.  Her 
countenance  was  steadfast,  her  eyes  not  even 
"  moistened  with  teares,  although  her  ij  gentlewomen, 
Mistress  Elizabeth  Tylney  and  Mistress  Eleyn, 
wonderfully  wept."  At  the  foot  of  the  scaffold,  she 
dismissed  Feckenham  with  kindly  words.  Mount- 
ing the  steps,  she  spoke  to  the  people,  acknowledging 
that  her  acts  had  been  unlawful;  "but  touching  the 
procurement  and  desyre  thereof  by  me  or  on  my 
behalfe,  I  doo  'wash  my  handes  thereof  in  inno- 
cencie,'  before  God,  and  the  face  of  you,  good  Chris- 
tian people,  this  day;"  and  therewith,  "she  wrong 
her  handes,  in  which  she  had  hir  boke." 

Then,  kneeling  down,  she  turned  to  Feckenham, 
who  had  followed  her  to  the  scaffold,  saying,  "  Shall 
I  say  this  psalm?"  He  answered,  "Yea."  So  she 
said  the  Miserere  (Ps.  li.)  in  English  to  the  end.  The 
psalm  ended,  she  stood  up,  and  gave  her  gloves  and 
handkerchief  to  her  maiden,  Mistress  Tylney,  and  her 
book  to  Master  Brydges,  brother  to  the  Lieutenant  of 
the  Tower.  The  book  is  the  small  manual  of  prayers 
on  vellum  which  is  preserved  in  the  British  Museum. 

With  the  help  of  her  two  gentlewomen,  she  untied 
and  put  off  her  gown,  laid  aside  her  head-dress  and 
neckerchief,  and  took  from  them  "a  fayre  handkercher 
to  knytte  about  her  eyes.  Then  the  hangman  kneeled 
downe,  and  asked  her  forgivenesse,  whome  she  forgave 
most  willingly.  Then  he  willed  her  to  stand  upon 
the  strawe ;  which  doing,  she  sawe  the  block.  Then 
she  sayd,  'I  pray  you  dispatch  me  quickly/  Then 


156    STRUGGLE  BETWEEN  ENGLAND  AND  SPAIN 

she  kneeled  down,  saying,  '  Will  you  take  it  off  before 
I  lay  me  downe?'  and  the  hangman  answered  her, 
'  No,  madame.'  She  tied  the  kercher  about  her  eyes  : 
then  feeling  for  the  blocke,  saide,  '  What  shall  I  do  ? 
Where  is  it  ? '  One  of  the  standers-by  guyding  her 
therunto,  she  layde  her  heade  down  upon  the  block, 
and  stretched  forth  her  body,  and  said,  '  Lorde,  into 
Thy  hands  I  commende  my  spirite ! '  And  so  she 
ended." 

In  the  short  time  between  her  sentence  and  her 
death,  Lady  Jane  Dudley  had  been  haunted  by  the  fear 
that  her  father  might  fall  from  the  Protestant  faith. 
Her  dread  proved  groundless.  The  Duke  of  Suffolk 
was  beheaded  at  Tower  Hill,  on  February  23rd,  1554, 
resisting  all  efforts  to  turn  him  from  his  religion.  That 
reparation,  at  least,  he  could  make  to  the  daughter 
whom  his  ambition  had  destroyed.  His  own  remorse, 
her  appeal,  her  constancy,  and  her  example  gave  him 
a  courage  which  scarcely  belonged  to  the  weakness  of 
his  character.  He  died  with  the  same  psalms  upon 
his  lips.  "Then  the  Duke,"  says  Fox,  "kneeled 
down  upon  his  knees,  and  said  the  Psalm  '  Miserere 
mei,  Deus '  unto  the  end,  holding  up  his  hands  and 
looking  up  to  heaven.  And  when  he  had  ended  the 
psalm,  he  said  'In  manus  tuas,  Domine,  commendo 
spiritum  meum,'  "  etc.  His  head  fell  at  the  first  blow 
of  the  axe. 

The  execution  of  Lady  Jane  Dudley  established 
for  the  time  the  triumph  of  Spain,  and,  with  it,  the 
victory  of  authority  over  freedom.  So  long  as  Queen 
Mary  lived,  and  Philip  was  at  her  side,  no  effort  should 
be  spared  to  win  back  England  to  the  Roman  Catholic 
faith.  At  her  death,  the  same  policy  was  to  be  pur- 
sued by  different  means,  but  with  the  same  resolution. 


EGMONT  AND  HORN  157 

Another  scene  brings  before  us,  on  another  stage,  the 
working  of  the  same  policy,  directed  by  the  same  hand 
and  will. 

Slow  in  the  execution  of  his  purpose,  but  inflexibly 
tenacious  of  his  end,  Philip  set  himself  to  crush  the 
Netherlands  and  extirpate  the  pestilent  heresy.  The 
Duke  of  Alva  was  his  instrument.  In  1567,  the  duke 
as  governor-general,  entered  on  his  task,  at  the  head 
of  a  Spanish  army.  The  Keign  of  Terror  began. 
Within  the  space  of  three  months,  the  Council  of 
Troubles,  better  known  as  the  Council  of  Blood,  had 
put  to  death  eighteen  hundred  human  beings.  Among 
its  later  victims  were  Lamoral,  Count  of  Egmont  and 
Prince  of  Gavre,  and  his  friend,  Count  Horn. 

On  the  22nd  of  August  1567,  Egmont  rode  out 
from  Brussels  to  meet  the  governor-general.  Pass- 
ing his  arm  lovingly  round  his  neck,  Alva  talked  with 
him  in  friendly  fashion,  as  he  was  escorted  to  the  house 
of  Madame  de  Jasse,  where  the  governor  was  lodged. 
In  spite  of  friendly  warnings,  again  and  again  reiter- 
ated, Egmont  believed  in  the  duke's  honour.  His 
confidence  inspired  Horn  with  a  sense  of  the  same 
security,  and  he  joined  Egmont  at  Brussels  to  show 
respect  to  the  king's  representative.  On  September 
9th,  the  blow  fell.  Egmont  and  Horn  were  arrested, 
and  under  a  strong  guard  conveyed  to  Ghent. 
They  scarcely  had  even  the  mockery  of  a  trial.  On 
June  2nd,  1568,  the  sentence  of  death  was  passed  upon 
the  two  nobles  by  the  Council  of  Blood.  The  same 
day,  the  prisoners,  in  separate  carriages,  guarded  by 
hundreds  of  soldiers,  were  conveyed  to  the  Brod-huys 
in  the  great  square  at  Brussels. 

Late  on  the  evening  of  the  4th  of  June,  Alva  sent 
for  the  Bishop  of  Ypres,  and  charged  him  to  prepare 


158    STRUGGLE  BETWEEN  ENGLAND  AND  SPAIN 

the  prisoners  for  death  on  the  following  day.  The 
bishop  implored  for  mercy,  or  at  least  delay.  The 
only  answer  he  received  was  the  rebuke,  that  he  had 
been  summoned  to  confess  the  criminals,  not  to  advise 
the  governor.  The  rumour  of  the  sentence  quickly 
spread.  The  Countess  of  Egmont  heard  it,  and 
hurried  to  the  presence  of  the  duke.  On  her  knees 
she  begged  for  her  husband's  life.  "  On  the  morrow," 
was  the  ironical  reply,  "  your  husband  is  certain  to  be 
released." 

It  was  not  till  eleven  o'clock  at  night,  that  the 
bishop  reached  the  chamber  on  the  second  storey  of 
the  Brod-huys,  where  Egmont  was  confined.  The 
count  heard  his  sentence  with  surprise  rather  than 
with  flinching.  "Since,"  he  said,  "my  death  is  the 
will  of  God  and  His  Majesty,  I  will  try  to  meet  it 
with  patience."  He  had  but  a  few  hours  to  live.  The 
bishop  exhorted  him  to  withdraw  himself  from  all 
earthly  interests,  and  turn  his  thoughts  only  to  God. 
Kneeling  at  his  feet,  Egmont  confessed,  and  received 
the  Sacrament.  Then  nature  reasserted  itself,  as  he 
thought  on  his  wife  and  children.  "  Alas ! "  he 
exclaimed,  "  how  weak  and  frail  is  our  human  nature. 
When  we  would  think  only  of  God,  the  images  of  wife 
and  children  come  between."  His  loss  of  self-control 
was  but  momentary.  Recovering  his  calmness,  he 
sat  down  and  wrote  to  the  king,  as  the  day  began 
to  dawn  on  which  he  was  to  die.  "Although,"  he 
wrote,  "I  have  never  had  a  thought,  and  believe 
myself  never  to  have  done  a  deed,  which  could  tend 
to  the  prejudice  of  Your  Majesty's  person  or  service, 
or  to  the  detriment  of  our  true,  ancient,  and  Catholic 
religion,  nevertheless  I  take  patience  to  bear  that 
which  it  has  pleased  the  good  God  to  send."  "I 


DEATH  OF  EGMONT  159 

pray  Your  Majesty,"  he  concluded,  "to  forgive  me, 
and  to  have  compassion  on  my  poor  wife,  my  children, 
and  my  servants,  having  regard  to  my  past  services. 
In  which  hope  I  now  commend  myself  to  the  mercy 
of  God. 

"  Ready  to  die,  this  5th  June  1568.  Your  Majesty's 
very  humble  and  loyal  vassal  and  servant, 

"LAMORAL  D'EGMONT." 

Then,  with  his  own  hands,  he  cut  the  collar  from 
his  doublet  and  his  shirt,  that  the  hangman  might  not 
defile  him  with  his  touch.  The  rest  of  the  twilight 
hours  were  spent  in  prayer  and  meditation. 

The  scaffold  was  raised  in  the  centre  of  the  famous 
Grande  Place  of  Brussels,  the  scene  of  many  a  brilliant 
tournament  and  cruel  execution.  Opposite  to  the 
Brod-huys  stands  the  magnificent  Town  Hall,  and  on 
either  side  of  the  space  rise  the  picturesque  mediaeval 
guild-houses  of  the  butchers,  brewers,  archers,  tailors, 
and  carpenters.  On  the  morning  of  the  5th  of  June 
1568,  the  bells  tolled  from  the  churches ;  gloom  hung 
over  the  city,  as  though,  to  use  the  language  of  a 
contemporary,  "the  day  of  judgment  were  at  hand." 
The  roofs,  the  balconies,  the  windows,  that  looked 
upon  the  square,  were  thronged  with  spectators. 
Strong  bodies  of  arquebusiers  guarded  the  avenues 
that  led  to  the  Place.  Three  thousand  Spanish  troops, 
some  of  whom  had  doubtless  followed  Egmont  in  his 
brilliant  feats  of  arms  at  St  Quentin  and  Gravelines, 
were  massed  round  a  scaffold,  draped  with  black  cloth. 
In  its  folds  was  concealed  the  executioner.  Upon 
the  scaffold  itself,  were  placed  two  velvet  cushions, 
and  a  small  table  bearing  a  crucifix.  At  the  corners 
rose  two  poles,  spiked  with  steel  points.  Immediately 


160    STRUGGLE  BETWEEN  ENGLAND  AND  SPAIN 

below  the  scaffold,  motionless  on  his  horse,  sat  the 
Provost  Marshal,  holding  in  his  hand  his  red  wand  of 
office. 

At  eleven  o'clock,  Egmont,  with  the  bishop  at  his 
side,  walked  with  steady  step  along  the  platform 
which  led  from  the  balcony  of  the  Brod-huys  to  the 
scaffold.  As  he  made  his  way  to  the  block,  he 
repeated  aloud  portions  of  the  51st  Psalm.  With  one 
vain  wish  that  he  had  been  allowed  to  die  in  the 
service  of  king  and  country,  he  knelt  down  on  one  of 
the  cushions,  and  prayed  aloud.  Then,  after  repeatedly 
kissing  the  crucifix,  and  receiving  absolution  at  the 
hands  of  the  bishop,  he  rose  to  his  feet.  Stripping  off 
his  mantle  and  robe,  he  again  knelt  down,  drew  a  silk 
cap  over  his  eyes,  and,  repeating  the  words,  "  Lord, 
into  Thy  hands  I  commend  my  spirit"  (Ps.  xxxi. 
verse  6),  awaited  the  stroke  of  the  executioner.  His 
head,  which  was  severed  from  the  body  at  a  single 
blow,  was  set  on  one  of  the  spikes,  and  a  cloak  thrown 
over  the  mutilated  trunk. 

A  few  minutes  later,  Count  Horn  was  led  to  the 
scaffold.  He  died  with  the  same  courage,  and  with 
the  same  words  on  his  lips.  On  the  pole  opposite 
that  of  Egmont,  his  head  was  fixed.  With  these 
executions  began  the  Revolt  of  the  Netherlands. 

In  England,  the  struggle  of  Protestantism  against 
Spain  and  Roman  Catholicism  centred  round  the 
rivalry  of  two  women.  On  the  death  of  Queen  Mary, 
Queen  Elizabeth,  relieved  from  constant  dread  of 
execution,  had  expressed  her  gratitude  in  the  words 
of  Ps.  cxviii.,  verse  23,  "  This  is  the  Lord's  doing ;  and 
it  is  marvellous  in  our  eyes."  The  Latin  text  was  the 
stamp  of  her  gold,  as  another  quotation  adapted  from 
the  Psalms — Posui  Deum  adjutorem  meum  ("  Thou  art 


MARY,  QUEEN  OF  SCOTS  161 

my  helper  .  .  .  O  my  God,"  Ps.  xl.,  verse  21),  was  the 
stamp  of  her  silver.  Her  love  of  the  Psalter  is 
further  shown  by  her  version  of  Ps.  xiv.,  beginning — 

"  Fooles,  that  true  fayth  yet  never  had, 
Sayth  in  their  hartes,  there  is  no  God ! 
Fylthy  they  are  in  their  practyse, 
Of  them  not  one  is  godly  wyse." 

But  though  she  ruled  as  few  have  ever  done  in  the 
hearts  of  her  people,  her  throne,  and  all  that  was 
implied  in  its  stability,  were  insecure  so  long  as  Mary, 
Queen  of  Scots,  was  her  heir  and  the  pivot  of  religious 
and  political  intrigues.  On  the  character  of  Mary, 
Queen  of  Scots,  historians  will  never  cease  to  dispute, 
and  her  share  in  the  murder  of  Darnley  is  a  subject 
on  which  they  are  still  divided. 

On  Saturday,  March  9th,  1566,  Eiccio,  Mary's 
Italian  secretary,  was  murdered,  almost  before  the 
Queen's  eyes,  in  the  Palace  of  Holyrood.  In  this 
brutal  crime,  Henry  Stuart,  Earl  of  Darnley,  had 
borne  a  part,  which  might  well  have  turned  to  hatred 
Mary's  love  for  the  handsome,  but  dissolute  husband 
on  whom  she  had  conferred  the  title  of  king.  Even 
the  birth  of  their  son,  three  months  later,  could 
scarcely  restore  an  affection  thus  outraged,  especially 
as  Darnley  ostentatiously  absented  himself  from  the 
child's  baptism.  Nor  was  his  subsequent  conduct, 
sullen  and  wayward  as  it  was,  likely  to  heal  the 
breach.  Yet,  though  the  circumstances  create  sus- 
picion, Mary's  connivance  at  Darnley's  assassination 
is  not  absolutely  proved.  His  insolence  and  caprice 
had  made  him  many  enemies  among  the  haughty 
nobles  who  attended  the  Scottish  Court. 

In  the  winter  of  1566-7,  Darnley  lay  sick  at 

L 


162    STRUGGLE  BETWEEN  ENGLAND  AND  SPAIN 

Glasgow,  from  some  mysterious  and  apparently  in- 
fectious malady.  When  he  was  slowly  recovering, 
Mary  visited  him,  and  husband  and  wife  were  out- 
wardly reconciled.  At  the  end  of  January  1567,  though 
still  suffering  from  the  disease,  he  was  removed  in  a 
litter  to  Edinburgh,  and  lodged,  not  in  the  Palace  of 
Holyrood,  but  in  a  house  which  stood  on  a  space  of 
ground  called  Kirk-o'-Field. 

The  Kirk-o'-Field,  situated  where  now  stands  the 
north-eastern  corner  of  the  old  University  buildings, 
lay  close  to  the  town-wall,  which  was  built  after  the 
battle  of  Flodden  to  protect  the  Cowgate.  Through 
this  wall,  on  the  south  side  of  the  open  space,  led  a 
postern  gate.  To  the  north  ran  a  row  of  mean 
cottages,  called  Thief  Row.  On  the  east  stood  the 
ruined,  roofless  Church  of  Our  Lady-in-the-Field, 
wrecked  by  the  English  invaders.  On  the  west  was 
a  quadrangular  building,  also  partially  in  ruins,  which 
had  belonged  to  the  Dominican  Friars.  It  was  in  the 
western  wing  of  this  convent  that  Darnley  was 
lodged. 

The  rooms  in  this  wing  were  not  many ;  but  they 
were  occupied  as  a  dwelling-house,  and  were  detached 
from  the  rest  of  the  building,  having  a  separate  stair- 
case and  door  which  gave  access  from  without.  The 
wing  contained  a  hall,  and  a  bedroom  on  the  ground 
floor  ;  above  these  were  another  bedroom,  a  wardrobe, 
a  cabinet,  and  a  corridor.  There  was  also  a  cellar 
below  the  hall.  These  rooms  had  been  prepared  for 
Darnley's  reception,  and  furnished  with  a  touch  of 
regal  splendour.  The  hall  was  hung  with  tapestry, 
and  fitted  with  a  chair  of  state,  and  a  dais  of  black 
velvet  fringed  with  silk.  Darnley's  bedchamber  on 
the  first  floor  was  hung  with  tapestry,  and  carpeted 


DARNLEY  AND  KIRK-O'-FIELD  163 

with  the  rare  and  costly  luxury  of  a  little  Turkey 
carpet.  A  chair  of  purple  velvet,  two  or  three 
cushions  of  red  velvet,  a  small  table  covered  with  a 
green  velvet  cover,  a  bed,  hung  with  brown  velvet, 
"pasmented  with  cloth  of  silver  and  gold,"  and 
embroidered  with  cypress  and  flowers,  formed  the 
furniture.  The  bed  had  belonged  to  Mary's  mother. 
The  cabinet  was  of  "  yellow  shot  taffeta,  fringed  with 
red  and  yellow  silk."  The  wardrobe  was  hung  with 
tapestry,  figuring,  by  a  grim  irony,  a  rabbit  hunt. 
Never  was  wild  animal  more  helplessly  trapped  and 
at  the  mercy  of  his  pursuers,  than  was  Darnley  in  the 
hands  of  his  enemies.  In  the  bedroom  on  the  ground 
floor,  immediately  beneath  Darnley's  chamber,  was  a 
bed  of  red  and  yellow  damask,  with  a  coverlet  of 
marten's  fur.  Here  the  queen  slept  on  Wednesday, 
February  5th,  and  on  Friday,  February  7th.  Here, 
also,  she  was  to  have  slept  the  following  Sunday. 

About  ten  o'clock,  on  the  night  of  Sunday,  the 
queen  with  her  attendants  was  seen  passing  along 
the  Blackfriars  Wynd,  lighted  by  torch-bearers,  on 
her  way  from  Holyrood  to  visit  Darnley  at  Kirk-o'- 
Field.  Arrived  at  the  house,  she  went  straight  to  her 
husband's  room,  without  entering  her  own  chamber. 
There  she  sat  for  two  hours,  talking  with  the  sick 
man.  At  midnight  she  rose,  placed  a  ring  on  Darnley's 
finger,  kissed  him,  bade  him  good-night,  and  left  him. 
That  afternoon,  Sebastian  Paiges,  one  of  the  Court 
musicians,  had  been  married  to  one  of  Mary's  waiting- 
women,  and,  in  honour  of  the  event,  there  was  given 
at  the  Palace  a  masked  ball,  which  Mary  had  promised 
to  attend.  At  the  door  of  the  king's  chamber,  she 
turned,  and  said  to  Darnley,  "It  is  eleven  months 
to-day  since  Eiccio  was  slain."  So  Mary  departed, 


164    STRUGGLE  BETWEEN  ENGLAND  AND  SPAIN 

returning  as  she  came,  by  the  light  of  torches  to  Holy- 
rood.  On  her  way,  she  sent  back  her  page  to  fetch 
the  furred  coverlet  from  her  room. 

Darnley,  still  a  mere  boy,  only  twenty  years  old, 
was  left  alone  with  his  page,  Taylor,  who  slept  in  his 
room,  and  two  servants,  Nelson  and  Symonds,  who 
slept  in  a  corridor  outside  his  chamber.  Two  grooms 
also  slept  somewhere  in  the  house.  When  Mary  had 
gone,  Darnley  turned  to  Nelson,  and  said,  "She 
was  very  kind;  but  why  did  she  speak  of  Davie's 
slaughter  ? "  Her  parting  words  sounded  ominously 
in  his  ears.  The  place  was  a  solitary  one,  among  the 
ruins  of  churches,  the  graves  of  dead  men,  and  the 
lurking  corners  of  thieves.  "It  is  very  lonely,"  he 
said.  Restless  and  wakeful,  weak  with  his  long  ill- 
ness, chilled  by  a  sense  of  his  loneliness  and  a  vague 
foreboding  of  evil,  he  opened  the  Book  of  Psalms. 
Perhaps  the  wayward  boy,  who,  in  the  days  of  his 
short-lived  power,  had  made  so  many  enemies  by  his 
imperious  insolence,  had  learned  to  turn  to  them  for 
comfort  as  he  lay  on  his  bed  of  sickness.  He  opened 
the  pages  at  the  55th  Psalm,  which  was  one  of  the 
portions  appropriated  in  the  English  Prayer-book 
for  the  day  that  was  dawning.  They  were  the  last 
words  that  he  read  on  earth.  With  what  force  must 
their  words  have  struck  into  his  heart,  if  he  suspected 
his  impending  doom,  and  his  wife's  complicity  in  the 
crime  !•— 

"  My  heart  is  disquieted  within  me  ;  and  the  fear 
of  death  is  fallen  upon  me. 

"Fearfulness  and  trembling  are  come  upon  me; 
and  an  horrible  dread  hath  overwhelmed  me. 

"  And  I  said,  O  that  I  had  wings  like  a  dove  !  for 
then  would  I  flee  away,  and  be  at  rest. 


EXECUTION  OF  QUEEN  MARY  165 

"  For  it  is  not  an  open  enemy  that  hath  done  me 
this  dishonour ;  for  then  I  could  have  borne  it. 

"  But  it  was  even  thou,  my  companion,  my  guide, 
and  mine  own  familiar  friend. 

"  The  words  of  his  mouth  were  softer  than  butter, 
having  war  in  his  heart;  his  words  were  smoother 
than  oil,  and  yet  be  they  very  swords." 

An  hour  later  he  went  to  bed,  with  his  page  at  his 
side.  All  that  follows  is  shrouded  in  mystery.  At 
two  o'clock  on  Monday  morning,  a  terrific  explosion 
startled  the  sleeping  citizens  from  their  beds.  Nelson, 
alone  of  those  who  slept  in  the  house,  escaped  alive. 
The  bodies  of  Darnley  and  his  page  were  found,  side 
by  side,  many  yards  away,  with  no  sign  of  fire  upon 
them.  Near  the  king,  who  was  in  his  nightgown,  lay 
his  fur  pelisse  and  slippers.  The  probability  is  that 
he  and  his  page,  aroused  by  the  noise  which  the 
murderers  made  in  arranging  the  powder,  escaped 
from  the  house  into  the  garden,  and  were  there  seized 
and  strangled.  So  sudden  and  wide-spread  was  the 
alarm  created  by  the  explosion,  that  the  murderers 
had  no  time  to  place  the  bodies  near  the  ruins,  but 
fled  for  their  lives. 

Twenty  years  later,  Mary,  Queen  of  Scots,  was 
herself  executed  at  Fotheringay.  Even  her  bitterest 
enemies  could  not  deny  that  she  met  her  fate  with 
dignity.  At  daybreak,  on  the  morning  of  February  8th, 
1587,  she  desired  Jane  Kennedy  to  read  aloud  to 
her  from  her  favourite  book,  The  Lives  of  the  Saints. 
After  dressing  with  unusual  care,  she  retired  to  her 
oratory.  There  she  remained  till  the  appointed  hour, 
when,  with  tranquil  composure,  she  took  her  seat 
upon  the  scaffold.  The  commission  for  her  execution 
was  read  by  the  Clerk  to  the  Council,  to  which  she 


166    STRUGGLE  BETWEEN  ENGLAND  AND  SPAIN 

briefly  replied,  declaring  her  innocence.  Throughout 
the  long  harangue  of  Dr  Fletcher,  the  Protestant  Dean 
of  Peterborough,  who  exhorted  her  to  abandon  her 
religion,  she  remained  silent,  absorbed  in  her  own 
thoughts  or  devotions.  It  was  only  by  the  interven- 
tion of  the  Earl  of  Shrewsbury,  that  she  was  relieved 
from  the  divine's  ill-timed  pertinacity,  and  allowed  to 
pray  according  to  the  forms  of  her  own  faith. 

Her  prayers  ended,  she  put  off  her  black  satin  robe 
and  long  white  veil  of  lawn,  and  appeared  in  a  bodice 
and  petticoat  of  crimson  velvet.  The  executioner,  on 
his  knees,  begged  her  forgiveness.  "I  forgive  all," 
she  replied.  Then,  with  a  handkerchief  bound  over 
her  eyes,  she  "kneeled  downe  upon  the  cushion 
resolutely,  and,  without  any  token  of  feare  of  deathe, 
sayde  allowde  in  Lattin  the  Psalme,  In  te  Domine, 
confido  (Ps.  xi.).  Then  groaping  for  the  block,  shee 
layde  downe  hir  heade."  Another  authority  states 
that  she  said  aloud  several  times,  "  Into  Thy  hands  I 
commend  my  spirit."  The  Latin  lines,  which  she  is 
supposed  to  have  written  before  her  execution,  seem 
to  be  based  on  the  Psalms,  and  especially  on 
Psalm  Ixxi.  : 

*  O  Domine  Deus,  speravi  in  te : 
O  care  mi  Jesu,  nunc  libera  me : 
In  dura  catena,  in  misera  poen& 
Desidero  te ! 

Languendo,  gemendo,  et  genuflectendo, 
Adoro,  imploro,  ut  liberes  me ! " 

Meanwhile  Spain  was  preparing  the  expedition 
which  was  designed  to  crush  Protestant  England. 
The  Invincible  Armada  lay  off  Lisbon  ready  to  sail. 
One  hundred  and  thirty  galleons,  carrying  30,000  men, 
covered  the  broad  waters  of  the  Tagus.  No  crusade 


THE  SPANISH  ARMADA  167 

against  the  Saracens  had  ever  excited  greater  enthu- 
siasm than  did  this  Holy  War  against  the  heretic,  this 
final  effort  of  authority  against  freedom.  Treasure 
had  been  lavished  like  water ;  high  and  low  had  given 
their  money,  according  to  their  means.  For  three 
years  prayers  had  been  said  daily  for  success.  Each 
noble  family  in  Spain  sent  a  son  to  fight  for  Christ  and 
Our  Lady.  The  ships  were  named  after  apostles  and 
saints ;  the  crews  were  to  abstain  from  vice  and  evil- 
speaking  ;  at  sunrise  the  Buenos  Dias,  at  sunset  the 
Ave  Maria,  were  to  be  sung  on  board.  The  standard, 
which  flew  from  the  flag- ship,  as  the  San  Martin  led 
the  way  to  sea  in  May  1588,  unrolled  the  motto, 
"Exsurge,  Deus,  et  vindica  causam  tuam" — "Awake, 
and  stand  up  to  judge  my  quarrel :  avenge  Thou 
my  cause,  my  God,  and  my  Lord"  (Ps.  xxxv., 
verse  23). 

In  the  space  of  a  few  weeks,  the  great  fleet  was 
scattered  and  destroyed.  Victor  Hugo,  in  his  Legende 
des  Siecles,  imagines  the  little  Infanta  of  Spain  stand- 
ing by  a  fountain  in  the  gardens  of  the  Escurial.  In 
her  tiny  hand  the  child  holds  a  rose  in  which  her 
laughing  face  is  buried,  till  the  damask  of  cheek  and 
flower  can  scarcely  be  distinguished.  Suddenly  an 
evening  breeze  sweeps  the  petals  into  the  basin  of  the 
fountain,  and  dashes  the  smooth  waters  into  miniature 
waves,  on  which  the  scattered  leaves  toss  like  disabled 
hulks.  "  What  does  it  mean  ? "  asks  the  wondering, 
half-frightened  child,  in  whose  hand  only  the  bare 
stalk  is  left.  "Madame,"  replies  the  Duenna,  "to 
princes  belong  all  that  is  on  earth,  save  only  the 
wind." 

It  was  in  a  psalm  (Psalm  iii.,  "Lord,  how  are 
they  increased  that  trouble  me")  that  the  English 


168    STRUGGLE  BETWEEN  ENGLAND  AND  SPAIN 

nation  expressed  their  fears  of  impending  invasion, 
as,  five  centuries  before,  they  had,  with  the  same  words, 
invoked  divine  aid  against  the  Norsemen.  In  a  psalm 
(Ps.  Ixxvi.,  "In  Jewry  is  God  known"),  they  gave 
voice  to  their  gratitude;  with  the  same  words  the 
citizens,  led  by  the  great  preacher,  Eobert  Bruce, 
celebrated  the  triumph  at  the  Market  Cross  of  Edin- 
burgh ;  and  from  a  third  psalm  (Ps.  cxlvii.,  verse  18), 
is  taken  the  motto  which  was  engraved  upon  the 
coins  struck  to  commemorate  the  victory :  Afflamt 
Dem. 

The  defeat  of  the  Invincible  Armada  saved  England 
from  the  horrors  of  invasion ;  but  it  did  not  end  the 
war.  The  victory  was  only  an  episode  in  that  religious 
struggle  which  gave  to  Great  Britain  the  sceptre  of 
the  sea,  and  laid  the  foundations  of  her  colonial  empire. 
In  those  "  spacious  times,"  when  men  were  endowed 
with  a  variety  of  gifts  and  qualities,  any  one  of  which, 
in  later  days,  would  distinguish  its  possessor,  Sir 
Walter  Raleigh  and  Sir  Philip  Sidney  were  con- 
spicuous figures  as  gallant  knights,  courtiers,  and 
scholars.  On  Raleigh,  in  the  midst  of  his  adven- 
turous career  by  sea  and  land,  the  Psalms  had  laid 
their  spell.  From  Jerome's  cave  at  Bethlehem  to 
Raleigh's  dungeon  in  the  Tower  their  influence 
passes  without  breach  of  continuity,  although,  in  the 
lapse  of  twelve  centuries,  scarcely  any  aspect  of 
human  life  remained  unchanged — except  that  human 
nature  to  which  they  remain  eternally  true.  In  his 
History  of  the  World,  the  bold  explorer  and  learned 
student  writes  : 

"For  his  internal  gifts  and  graces,  David  so  far 
exceded  all  other  men,  and,  putting  his  human  frailty 
apart,  he  was  said  by  God  Himself  to  be  a  man  accord- 


SIR  PHILIP  SIDNEY  169 

ing  to  His  own  heart.  The  Psalms  which  he  wrote 
instance  his  piety  and  excellent  learning,  of  whom 
Jerome  to  Paulina:  ' David,'  saith  he,  'our  Simon- 
ides,  Pindarus,  and  Alcseus,  Horatius,  Catullus,  and 
Serenus,  playeth  Christ  on  his  harp,  and  on  a  ten- 
stringed  lute  raiseth  Him  up  rising  from  the  dead. 
And  being  both  king  and  prophet,  he  foretelleth 
Christ  more  lightsomely  and  lively  than  all  the  rest." 

Spenser's  version  of  the  Penitential  Psalms  has 
perished.  But  the  metrical  translation  of  the  "  Psalmes 
of  David,"  "  begun  by  that  noble  and  learned  gentle- 
man, Sir  Philip  Sidney,  Knight,  and  finished  by  The 
Right  Honourable  the  Countess  of  Pembroke,"  has 
been  preserved.  It  was  printed  in  1823,  and  a  portion 
was  edited  by  Ruskin  in  his  Bibliotheca  Pastorum 
(1877).  The  fact  that  Sidney  should  have  set  himself 
the  task,  is  itself  significant ;  but  his  version  is  speci- 
ally noteworthy  in  its  mingled  familiarity  and  dignity. 
It  has  the  energy  of  the  times,  the  fixed  effort  to  reach 
the  heart  of  the  meaning  and  make  it  unmistakably 
clear.  As  Ruskin  says,  "  Sir  Philip  Sidney  will  use 
any  cowboy's  or  tinker's  words,  if  only  they  help  him 
to  say  precisely  in  English  what  David  said  in  Hebrew; 
impressed  the  while  himself  so  vividly  by  the  majesty 
of  the  thought  itself,  that  no  tinker's  language  can 
lower  it  or  vulgarise  it  in  his  mind." 

Nor  was  it  only  to  courtiers  and  learned  scholars 
that  the  Psalms  appealed.  To  them  also,  even  simple 
mariners  turned  for  strength  in  peril  from  enemies  or 
shipwreck. 

In  1586,  five  Turkey  merchantmen,  equipped  for 
trade  and  not  for  war,  encountered  on  the  high  seas 
eleven  Spanish  galleys  and  two  frigates.  The  English 
ships  were  summoned  by  the  Spaniards  to  surrender. 


170     STRUGGLE  BETWEEN  ENGLAND  AND  SPAIN 

On  their  refusal,  a  fight  began,  which  is  thus  described 
by  Philip  Jones.  "Although,"  he  says,  "our  men 
performed  their  parts  with  singular  valure  according 
to  their  strength,  insomuch  that  the  enemie  as  amased 
therewith  would  oftentimes  pause  and  stay,  and  con- 
sult what  was  best  to  be  done,  yet  they  ceased  not 
in  the  midst  of  their  businesse  to  make  prayer  to 
Almighty  God,  the  revenger  of  al  evils,  and  the  giver 
of  victories,  that  it  would  please  him  to  assist  in  that 
good  quarell  of  theirs,  in  defending1  themselves  against 
so  proud  a  tyrant,  to  teache  their  hands  to  warre  and 
their  fingers  to  fight  (Ps.  cxliv.,  verse  1),  that  the  glory 
of  the  victory  might  redound  to  his  Name,  and  to  the 
honor  of  true  Religion,  which  the  insolent  enemie 
sought  so  much  to  overthrowe."  At  the  end  of  four 
hours,  the  Spaniards  drew  off,  and  the  English 
merchantmen  pursued  their  voyage  unmolested. 

On  the  16th  day  of  August  1593,  "the  ToUe  of 
London,  a  ship  of  250  tunnes,  manned  with  fiftie  men, 
set  sayle  from  Blackwall."  She  was  cast  ashore  on 
the  Barbary  coast,  and  broke  up  so  fast  that  there 
was  no  time  to  make  a  raft.  Climbing  up  into  the 
shrouds,  the  crew  hung  there  for  a  time.  "  But  seeing 
nothing  but  present  death  approch,  we  committed  our 
selves  unto  the  Lord,  and  beganne  with  doleful  tune 
and  heavy  hearts  to  sing  the  12  Psalme :  '  Helpe, 
Lord,  for  good  and  godly  men,'  &c.  Howbeit,  before 
we  had  finished  foure  verses,  the  waves  of  the  sea  had 
stopped  the  breathes  of  most  of  our  men  .  .  .  and  only 
twelve,  by  God's  providence,  partly  by  swimming  and 
other  meanes  of  chests,  gote  on  shoare,  which  was 
about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  from  the  wracke  of  the  ship." 

Yet  another  incident  connects  the  Psalms  with  the 
progress  of  the  same  war.  In  1598  the  question  of 


BURGHLEY  AND  BACON  171 

peace  with  Spain  was  hotly  debated  in  Elizabeth's 
Council.  The  Earl  of  Essex,  supported  by  the  envoys 
from  the  States- General  of  Holland,  warmly  urged  the 
continuance  of  the  war.  Burghley  as  strongly  pleaded 
for  peace.  In  the  midst  of  the  debate,  he  drew  from 
his  pocket  a  Prayer-book,  and  read  to  Essex  the  verse, 
"  The  bloodthirsty  and  deceitful  men  shall  not  live  out 
half  their  days  "  (Ps.  lv.,  verse  25).  Three  years  later, 
on  Wednesday,  February  25th,  1601,  Essex  was  led  to 
the  high  court  above  Caesar's  Tower,  in  the  precincts 
of  the  Tower  of  London,  and  there  beheaded. 

Like  the  queen  herself,  and  like  her  first  arch- 
bishop, her  greatest  statesman  was  a  lover  of  the 
Psalter.  All  his  life  Burghley  had  been  a  diligent 
student  of  the  Psalms.  In  his  declining  days,  as  a 
friend  and  contemporary  writes  of  the  great  minister, 
"  there  was  no  earthly  thing  wherein  he  took  comfort 
but  in  ...  reading,  or  hearing  the  Scriptures,  Psalmes, 
and  Praieres."  His  will,  dated  October  20th,  1579, 
disposes  of  his  lands  and  goods  in  a  manner  that  he 
hopes  "  shall  not  offend  God,  the  giver  of  them  all  to 
me ;  considering,  as  it  is  in  the  Psalm,  '  Coelum  coeli 
Domino,  terrain  dedit  filiis  hominum ' "  (Ps.  cxv.,  verse 
16,  "  All  the  whole  heavens  are  the  Lord's ;  the  earth 
hath  he  give  to  the  children  of  men  "). 

The  genius  of  Bacon  is  one  of  the  glories  of  the 
Elizabethan  age.  He  also  studied  and  quoted  the 
Psalms.  In  his  essay  "On  Atheism,"  he  comments 
on  the  1st  verse  of  Ps.  xiv.,  that  the  fool  who  said  in 
his  heart,  "there  is  rK)  God,"  "saith  it  rather  by  rote 
to  himself,  as  that  he  would  have  then  that  he 
can  throughly  believe  it  or  be  persuaded  of  it." 
Another  verse  quoted  in  Bacon's  Essays  ("Nature 
in  Men")  is  Ps.  cxx.,  verse  5,  "My  soul  hath  long 


172    STRUGGLE  BETWEEN  ENGLAND  AND  SPAIN 

dwelt  among  them  that  are  enemies  unto  peace/1 
Like  Sir  Thomas  Wyatt,  Surrey,  Spenser,  Sir  Philip 
Sidney,  Queen  Elizabeth,  James  I.,  and  Phinehas 
Fletcher,  Bacon  was  himself  a  versifier  of  the  Psalms. 
His  Certaine  Psalmes  written  in  sickness,  published  in 
1624,  and  dedicated  to  George  Herbert,  are  so  un- 
melodious,  that  it  is  difficult  to  imagine  that  he  could 
ever  have  been  a  poet.  It  was  on  a  psalm  (Ps.  ci.), 
known  as  the  "Mirror  for  Magistrates,"  that  he 
founded  his  advice  to  George  Villiers,  Duke  of 
Buckingham.  He  bade  him  take  that  psalm  for  his 
guide  in  promoting  courtiers.  "  In  these  the  choice 
had  need  be  of  honest  faithful  servants,  as  well  as  of 
comely  outsides  who  can  bow  the  knee  and  kiss  the 
hand.  .  .  .  King  David  (Ps.  ci.,  verses  6,  7)  propounded 
a  rule  to  himself  for  the  choice  of  his  courtiers.  He 
was  a  wise  and  good  king,  and  a  wise  and  good  king 
shall  do  well  to  follow  such  a  good  example ;  and  if 
he  find  any  to  be  faulty,  which  perhaps  cannot 
suddenly  be  discovered,  let  him  take  on  him  this 
resolution  as  King  David  did,  '  There  shall  no  deceit- 
ful person  dwell  in  my  house ' "  (Ps.  ci.,  verse  10). 

In  stormy  scenes  of  violence  or  peril,  in  dramatic 
incidents  on  which  great  events  have  turned,  in 
episodes  in  the  lives  of  rulers  of  the  earth,  the  power 
of  the  Psalms  has  been  noted  by  historians.  On 
masterpieces  of  Elizabethan  literature  the  same  power 
may  be  traced.  Whether  Shakespeare,  for  example, 
was  indeed  "untutored  in  the  lore  of  Greece  and 
Rome,"  may  be  open  to  dispute ;  but  none  can  doubt 
his  familiarity  with  the  Psalms.  "Death,  as  the 
Psalmist  saith,  is  certain  to  all:  all  shall  die."  So 
says  Justice  Shallow  to  Silence,  alluding  to  Psalm 
Ixxxix.  47,  "  What  man  is  he  that  liveth  and  shall  not 


SHAKESPEARE  173 

see  death?"  When  Queen  Margaret  asks,  in  the 
Second  Part  of  "  Henry  the  Sixth," 

"What!     Art  thou,  like  the  adder,  waxen  deaf? 
Be  poisonous  too,  and  kill  their  forlorn  Queen  " ; 

or  when  Hector  tells  Paris,  in  "Troilus  and 
Cressida," 

"  Pleasure  and  revenge 

Have  ears  more  deaf  than  adders  to  the  voice 
Of  any  true  decision/' 

the  allusion  is  to  Psalm  Iviii.  4. 

Buckingham's  words  in  "  King  Henry  the  Eighth  " 
refer  to  Psalm  cxli.  2,  "Let  the  lifting  up  of  my 
hands  be  an  evening  sacrifice  "  : 

"  And,  as  the  long  divorce  of  steel  falls  on  me, 
Make  of  your  prayers  one  sweet  sacrifice, 
And  lift  my  soul  to  Heaven." 

Antony's  prayer  in  "  Antony  and  Cleopatra  " — 

"Oh,  that  I  were 
Upon  the  hill  of  Basan,  to  outroar 
The  horned  herd !  for  I  have  savage  cause  " — 

plainly  refers  to  the  Psalmist's  "hill  of  Basan" 
(Psalm  Ixviii.,  15)  and  the  "fat  bulls  of  Basan" 
(Psalm  xxii.,  12).  The  prayer  of  Adam  in  "As 
You  Like  it" — 

"  He  that  doth  the  ravens  feed, 
Yea,  providently  caters  for  the  sparrow, 
Be  comfort  to  my  age  !  "— 

is  partly  founded  on  Psalm  cxlvii.  9,  "He  feedeth 
the  young  ravens  that  call  upon  Him."  In  "King 
Henry  the  Fifth/'  where  the  king  sings  his  "Non 
nobis,  Domine!"  in  thanksgiving  for  his  victory  at 
Agincourt, — 

«O  God,  Thy  arm  was  here ; 
And  not  to  us,  but  to  Thy  arm  alone 
Ascribe  we  all," — 


174    STRUGGLE  BETWEEN  ENGLAND  AND  SPAIN 

he  only  paraphrases  the  "  Not  unto  us,  O  Lord,  not 
unto  us,  but  unto  Thy  Name,  give  the  praise,"  of 
Psalm  cxv.  1.  So  the  description  of  God,  in 
"Kichard  II.,"  as  the  "widow's  champion  and 
defence"  is  taken  from  the  Psalmist's  "Father  of 
the  fatherless,  and  defendeth  the  cause  of  the 
widow"  (Psalm  Ixviii.,  5).  When,  the  king  in 
"  Hamlet "  asks, 

"What  if  this  cursed  hand 
Were  thicker  than  itself  with  brother's  blood, 
Is  there  not  rai^enough  in  the  sweet  heavens 
To  wash  it  white  as  snow  ?  " 

he  refers  to  Psalm  li.  7,  "  Thou  shalt  wash  me,  and 
I  shall  be  whiter  than  snow."  The  description  of  the 
approach  of  Alcibiades  in  "  Timon  of  Athens  " — 

"  Who,  like  a  boar  too  savage,  doth  root  up 
His  country's  peace  " — 

suggests  Psalm  Ixxx.  13,  "  The  wild  boar  out  of  the 
wood  doth  root  it  up."  The  address  of  Borneo  to 
Juliet,  where  he  compares  her  to  "  a  winged  messenger 
of  Heaven,"— 

"  When  he  bestrides  the  lazy-pacing  clouds 
And  sails  upon  the  bosom  of  the  air," — 

recalls  such  sentences  in  the  Psalms  as  "Magnify 
Him  that  rideth  upon  the  Heavens,  as  it  were  upon 
an  horse  "  (Ps.  Ixviii.  4),  or,  "  Who  maketh  the  clouds 
His  chariot,  and  walketh  upon  the  wings  of  the  wind  " 
(Ps.  civ.  3),  or,  "He  came  flying  upon  the  wings  of  the 
wind  "  (Ps.  xviii.  10). 

"  See  how  the  morning  opes  her  golden  gates, 
And  takes  her  farewell  of  the  glorious  sun  ! 
How  well  resembles  it  the  pride  of  youth, 
Trimmed  like  a  younker,  prancing  to  his  love,** 


SHAKESPEARE  175 

is  a  reminiscence  of  Psalm  xix.,  verse  5,  where  the  sun   L 
rejoices  "as  a  giant  to  run  his  course."     Finally,  in 
the  speech  from  the  Second  Part  of  "  King  Henry  the 
Sixth,"  addressed  by  the  king  to  Humphrey,  Duke 
of  Gloster,— 

"  Stay,  Humphrey,  Duke  of  Gloster  ;  ere  thou  go 
Give  up  thy  staff;  Henry  will  to  himselt 
Protector  be :  and  God  shall  be  my  hope, 
My  stay,  my  guide,  and  lantern  to  my  feet ; 
And  go  in  peace,  Humphrey," — 

Shakespeare  makes  use  of  such  passages  as,  "  truly  my 
hope  is  even  in  Thee  "  (Ps.  xxxix.  8) ;  "  but  the  Lord 
was  my  stay  "  (Ps.  xviii.  18) ;  "  our  guide  unto  death  " 
(Ps.  xlviii.  13);  and,  "a  lantern  unto  my  feet,  and  a 
light  unto  my  paths  "  (Ps.  cxix.  105). 

On  the  quieter  influence  of  the  Psalms  over  daily 
conduct,  or  by  peaceful  deathbeds,  history  is  compara- 
tively silent.  Yet  three  instances  may  be  quoted  to 
illustrate  this  aspect  of  the  subject.  In  his  dying 
moments,  the  thoughts  of  Richard  Hooker,  the  pride 
of  English  theologians,  dwelt  on  Psalm  cxxx.,  the  De 
Profundis,  on  which  Luther  has  founded  one  of  his  best 
known  hymns,  and  Phinehas  Fletcher  has  meditated 
in  the  lines : 

"  As  a  watchman  waits  for  day, 

And  looks  for  light  and  looks  again, 

When  the  night  grows  old  and  gray, 
To  be  relieved  he  calls  amain ; 

So  look,  so  wait,  so  long  my  eyes 
To  see  my  Lord,  my  Sun  arise." 

Hooker's  Ecclesiastical  Polity  by  its  massive  dignity 
still  retains  its  place  in  theological  literature.  But 
Bishop  Jewel's  Apology  for  the  Church  of  England 
(1562),  as  a  vindication  of  the  doctrine  and  discipline 


176    STRUGGLE  BETWEEN  ENGLAND  AND  SPAIN 

of  the  Reformed  Church,  was  in  its  day  equally  famous, 
and  circulated  throughout  Europe  when  the  Council  of 
Trent  was  still  sitting.  Jewel  himself  died  a  peaceful 
death,  at  Monkton  Farleigh  in  Wiltshire,  on  September 
23rd,  1571.  On  his  deathbed,  he  desired  that  the 
71st  Psalm  might  be  sung.  At  the  words,  "  Thou,  O 
Lord,  art  my  hope  and  my  trust,  from  my  youth  up," 
he  cried  out :  "  Thou,  O  Lord,  hast  been  my  only  hope." 
When  they  reached  the  passage,  "  Cast  me  not  off  in 
time  of  age,"  etc.,  he  exclaimed :  "  Every  one  who  is 
dying  Is,  in  truth,  old  and  grey-headed,  and  failing  in 
strength."  The  Psalm  ended,  he  broke  forth  into 
frequent  ejaculations  :  "  Lord,  now  lettest  Thou  Thy 
servant  depart  in  peace  " — "  Lord,  suffer  Thy  servant 
to  come  to  Thee  " — "  Lord,  receive  my  spirit " — and 
so  died. 

Great  though  Hooker  and  Jewel  were  as  theolo- 
gians and  apologists,  George  Herbert  (1593-1632)  was, 
in  temperament  and  character,  more  typical  of  the 
Elizabethan  age  in  which  he  was  born.  A  man  of 
saintly  piety,  at  once  an  ascetic  and  a  mystic,  he  had 
also  the  courtly  grace  and  refined  instincts  of  the 
high-bred  gentleman.  Men  of  his  type,  who  both 
venerated  the  Church  of  the  Fathers  and  inherited 
the  culture  of  the  Renaissance,  were  unintelligible 
to  the  Puritans. 

Retiring  from  Court,  and  taking  holy  orders, 
Herbert  spent  his  closing  years  as  a  parish  priest 
among  the  green  meadows  of  Bemerton,  in  view  of 
the  tapering  spire  of  Salisbury  Cathedral.  It  was 
in  something  of  the  Psalmist's  spirit  that  he  poured 
out  his  soul  in  verse,  adorning  his  poetry  with  the 
quaint  conceits  and  fancies  of  the  Elizabethan  age. 
To  him,  as  has  been  already  mentioned,  Bacon  dedi- 


GEORGE  HERBERT  177 

cated  his  Certaine  Psalms.  His  hymn,  "  The  God  of 
Love  my  Shepherd  is,"  is  one  of  the  most  popular 
versions  of  Psalm  xxiii.  The  motto  of  his  Sacred 
Poems  and  Private  Ejaculations,  published  at  Cam- 
bridge in  1633,  is,  "In 'his  temple  doth  every  man 
speak  of  his  honour"  (Ps.  xxix.,  verse  8),  and  the 
same  verse  suggested  for  his  book  the  title  of  The 
Temple.  "  Thou  shalt  answer  for  me,  O  Lord  my 
God "  (Ps.  xxxviii.,  verse  15),  is  the  burden  of  his 
admirable  poem,  "  The  Quip."  The  poet,  flouted  by 
all  that  this  world  holds  dear — Beauty,  Money,  brave 
Glory,  quick  Wit  and  Conversation — takes  refuge  in 
the  comfort  ministered  by  the  words  of  the  Psalm  : 

«  Yet  when  the  houre  of  Thy  design 

To  answer  these  fine  things  shall  come, 
Speak  not  at  large  ;    say,  I  am  Thine, 

And  then  they  have  their  answer  home." 

In  1632,  he  died  at  Bemerton,  dwelling,  like  Jewel, 
with  his  latest  breath,  on  the  text,  "  Forsake  me  not 
when  my  strength  faileth"  (Ps.  Ixxi.,  verse  8),  and 
committing  his  soul  to  God  in  the  familiar  words, 
"  Into  Thy  hands  I  commend  my  spirit "  (Ps.  xxxi., 
verse  6). 

Instances  of  the  influence  of  the  Psalter  on  un- 
eventful lives,  or  on  everyday  actions,  are,  perhaps, 
uninteresting  to  note.  But  the  point  needs  no  labour- 
ing. The  power  of  the  Psalms  has  been  instinctively 
felt  in  the  conduct  of  countless  men  and  women  whose 
careers  were  obscure,  unpicturesque,  unknown.  It 
is  here,  though  unrecorded,  that  their  teaching,  their 
encouragement,  their  warning,  their  consolation  have 
been  most  widely  felt.  Here  their  sway  has  been  so 
general  as  to  be  almost  universal ;  here,  also,  it  has 

M 


178    STRUGGLE  BETWEEN  ENGLAND  AND  SPAIN 

been  so  enduring  as  to  be  practically  everlasting. 
From  age  to  age,  from  hand  to  hand,  across  the 
centuries,  has  passed  their  torch  of  truth,  the  flame 
burning  bright  and  steady,  ever  pointing  the  way 
through  the  darkness,  ever  exploring  the  mysteries  of 
the  Divine  dealings  with  mankind,  always  lighting 
up  the  recesses  of  the  human  heart.  It  was  the 
sense  of  this  continuous  influence  of  the  Psalms  that 
roused  Eichard  Hooker  from  his  absorbing  studies 
to  a  noble  outburst  of  feeling.  Yet,  here  again,  not 
only  by  his  eloquence  but  by  its  source,  the  univer- 
sality of  the  Psalms,  and  their  superiority  to  religious 
differences,  are  strikingly  illustrated.  Hooker's  words 
are  little  more  than  a  paraphrase  from  the  exposition 
of  Torquemada,  the  Dominican  Inquisitor.  The  pass- 
age is  familiar  enough :  "  What  is  there  necessary 
for  man  to  know,  which  the  Psalms  are  not  able  to 
teach  ?  They  are  to  beginners  an  easy  and  familiar 
introduction  :  a  mighty  augmentation  of  all  virtue  and 
knowledge  in  such  as  are  entered  before,  a  strong 
confirmation  to  the  most  perfect  amongst  others. 
Heroical  magnanimity,  exquisite  justice,  grave 
moderation,  exact  wisdom,  repentance  unfeigned, 
unwearied  patience,  the  mysteries  of  God,  the 
sufferings  of  Christ,  the  terrors  of  wrath,  the  com- 
forts of  grace,  the  works  of  Providence  over  this 
world,  and  the  promised  joys  of  that  world  which  is 
to  come,  all  good  necessarily  to  be  either  known  or 
done  or  had,  this  one  celestial  fountain  yieldeth.  Let 
there  be  any  grief  or  disease  incident  into  the  soul  of 
man,  any  wound  or  sickness  named,  for  which  there 
is  not  in  this  treasure-house  a  present  comfortable 
remedy  at  all  times  ready  to  be  found.  Hereof  it 
is  that  we  covet  to  make  the  Psalms  especially 


HOOKER'S  ECCLESIASTICAL  POLITY         179 

familiar  unto  us  all.  This  is  the  very  cause  why 
we  iterate  the  Psalms  ofbener  than  any  other  part 
of  Scripture  besides ;  the  cause  wherefore  we  inure 
the  people  together  with  their  minister,  and  not 
the  minister  alone,  to  read  them  as  other  parts  of 
Scripture  he  doth." 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE   HUGUENOTS,    1524-98 

Marot's  Psalms  at  Court ;  the  distinctive  heritage  of  the  Huguenots ; 
the  power  of  the  Psalms  in  the  public  and  private  lives  of  the 
Huguenots — Palissy  the  potter,  Calvin,  Theodore  de  Beza, 
Robert  Estienne,  Casaubon,  Jean  Rousseau ;  traces  in  modern 
France  of  the  struggle  between  Roman  Catholics  and 
Huguenots;  beginning  of  the  persecution  of  Protestants — 
Jean  Leclerc  (1524),  Wolfgang  Schuch  (1525);  indecision 
of  Francis  I. ;  the  Huguenot  martyrs  of  Meaux— Jean 
Rabec,  massacre  of  Vassy ;  commencement  of  the  Wars  of 
Religion  (1562);  Coligny  at  Noyers  and  Moncontour; 
Massacre  of  St  Bartholomew  (1572);  Henry  of  Navarre, 
flight  from  Paris  to  Alenson,  battles  of  Courtras  and 
Chateau  d'Arques;  Edict  of  Nantes  (1598). 

WHEN  Marot's  Psalms  first  appeared,  they  were 
sung  to  popular  airs  alike  by  Koman  Catholics 
and  Calvinists.  No  one  delighted  in  the  sanctes 
chansonnettes  more  passionately  than  the  Dauphin, 
afterwards  Henry  II.  He  sang  them  himself,  set 
them  to  music,  and  surrounded  himself  with 
musicians  who  accompanied  his  voice  on  the  viol 
or  the  lute.  To  win  his  favour,  the  gentlemen 
of  the  Court  begged  him  to  choose  for  each  a 
psalm.  Courtiers  adopted  their  special  psalms,  just 
as  they  adopted  their  particular  arms,  mottoes,  or 
liveries.  Henry,  as  yet  without  an  heir,  sang  to  his 
own  music  Ps.  cxxviii.,  which  promises  to  the  God- 

180 


FRENCH  PROTESTANTISM  181 

fearing  man  a  wife  "as  the  fruitful  vine,"  and  children 
"  like  the  olive-branches."  Catherine  de  Medicis,  then 
a  childless  wife,  repeated  Ps.  vi.  ("O  Lord,  rebuke 
me  not  in  Thine  indignation").  Anthony,  King  of 
Navarre,  chose  Ps.  xliii.  ("Give  sentence  with  me, 
O  God  ").  Diane  de  Poitiers  sang  the  De  Prq/undis 
(Ps.  cxxx.)  to  the  tune  of  a  dance.  In  after  years, 
when  Catherine  had  borne  her  husband  ten  children, 
Henry  carolled  Ps.  xlii.  ("Like  as  the  hart  desireth 
the  water-brooks")  as  he  hunted  the  stag  in  the 
Forest  of  Fontainebleau,  riding  by  the  side  of  Diane, 
for  the  motto  of  whose  portrait  as  a  huntress  he  chose 
the  first  verse  of  his  favourite  psalm. 

But  with  the  Huguenot,  love  of  the  Psalms  was 
more  than  a  passing  fashion ;  they  became  in  a  peculiar 
sense  his  special  inheritance.  "  When  the  Catholics," 
says  Florimond  de  Remond,  "  saw  simple  women  seek 
torments  in  order  to  manifest  their*  faith,  and  meet 
death,  crying  only  on  Christ  their  Saviour,  or  singing  a 
psalm  ;  when  they  saw  young  virgins  go  to  the  scaffold 
as  gaily  as  they  would  go  to  the  bridal  couch ;  when 
they  saw  the  men  rejoice  at  the  sight  of  the  horrible 
preparations  and  instruments  of  death,  and,  half- 
burned  and  roasted,  contemplate  from  the  stake  their 
impending  tortures,  standing  firm  as  rocks  among  the 
billows  of  grief — in  a  word,  dying  with  a  smile — their 
hearts  wept  as  well  as  their  eyes." 

With  the  Psalms  is  bound  up  the  history  of 
French  Protestantism.  Their  translation  into  verse 
and  their  setting  to  music  were,  says  Strada,  among 
the  chief  causes  of  the  Reformation  in  the  Low 
Countries.  So  in  France  the  metrical  version  of  the 
Psalter,  in  the  vulgar  tongue,  set  to  popular  music, 
was  one  of  the  principal  instruments  in  the  success  of 


182  THE  HUGUENOTS,  1524-98 

the  Reformed  Church.  The  Psalms  were  identified 
with  the  everyday  life  of  the  Huguenots.  Children 
were  taught  to  learn  them  by  heart ;  they  were  sung 
at  every  meal  in  households  like  that  of  Coligny ;  to 
chant  psalms  meant,  in  popular  language,  to  turn 
Protestant.  On  the  battlefield,  and  in  the  discipline 
of  the  camp,  the  Psalms  held  their  place.  A  psalm, 
as  has  been  already  mentioned,  was  the  war-cry  of 
the  Britons  at  Mold,  of  the  Knights  Templars,  of 
Demetrius  of  the  Don ;  a  verse  from  the  Psalms  had 
floated  on  the  banner  of  the  Spanish  Armada;  the 
battle-song  of  John  Sobieski  at  Choczin  in  1663,  when 
the  tide  of  Mahomedan  invasion  was  finally  checked, 
was  Ps.  cxv.  So  now,  in  the  French  Wars  of 
Eeligion,  the  Psalms  became  the  Huguenot  Marseil- 
laise. With  a  psalm  they  repelled  the  charge  or 
delivered  the  assault.  In  Conde's  army,  so  La  Noue 
has  recorded,  the  sentries  were  posted  and  relieved 
to  the  chant  of  psalms.  Ps.  iii.  ("Lord,  how  are 
they  increased  that  trouble  me")  gave  the  signal  of 
danger.  Day  after  day,  the  hymn  of  thanksgiving 
for  victory  was  raised  in  Ps.  cxxii.  ("I  was  glad  when 
they  said  unto  me,"  etc.)  from  the  walls  of  Huguenot 
strongholds,  like  Montauban  or  La  Eochelle,  as  the 
soldiers  of  the  League  drew  off  their  beaten  forces. 

Nor  was  it  only  in  the  shock  of  battle,  or  the  glow 
of  victory,  that  the  power  of  the  Psalms  was  exercised. 
Other  songs,  from  the  days  of  Tyrtaeus  to  those  of 
Korner,  have  warmed  the  blood  and  fired  enthusiasm. 
But  the  Psalms  alone  have  been  equally  powerful  in 
defeat,  disaster,  or  humiliation.  In  vain  was  the 
chanting  of  the  Psalms  proscribed.  Equally  in  vain 
was  it  to  burn  the  books  by  the  hands  of  execu- 
tioners, or  to  thrust  the  pages  into  the  gaping  wounds 


THE  PSALMS  IN  FRANCE  183 

of  the  dying.  Colporteurs  risked  their  lives  in  carry- 
ing to  the  remotest  corners  of  Protestant  France 
copies  of  Marot's  version  of  the  Psalms,  printed  so 
small  that  they  could  be  readily  concealed  in  the 
clothes  of  refugees.  Thus  it  was  that  the  Psalms 
sustained  the  courage  of  the  martyrs  in  the  midst  of 
torture,  and  of  the  Formats  de  la  Foi  who  were  con- 
demned to  the  living  death  of  the  galleys.  The 
meetings  of  the  proscribed  and  persecuted  Huguenots 
were  summoned  by  the  singing  of  a  psalm ;  in  woods 
and  caverns,  in  dungeons,  in  exile  in  America,  the 
Psalms  still  sounded  from  the  lips  of  the  sturdy 
Protestants.  In  the  language  of  psalms  was  com- 
memorated the  escape  of  those  who  fled  from  the 
country ;  and  an  old  seal  is  in  existence,  once  the 
property  of  a  Huguenot  refugee,  which  bears  as  its 
device  a  net  below;  and  above,  a  bird  soaring  up- 
wards; and,  as  its  motto,  the  words,  "My  soul  is 
escaped  even  as  a  bird  out  of  the  snare  of  the 
fowler"  (Ps.  cxxiv.,  verse  6).  To  sing  the  Psalms 
of  David,  men  left  their  native  land,  and  sought 
remote  recesses  of  the  earth.  Francois  Leguat  and 
six  companions  made  their  home  on  the  Island 
of  Rodrigues  in  the  Indian  Ocean,  in  order  that 
there,  without  hindrance,  they  might  indulge  in  the 
consolation  of  singing  praise  to  God.  The  spectacle 
of  these  seven  fugitives  gathered  together  to  chant 
the  Psalms  of  David,  in  an  otherwise  uninhabited 
island,  is  at  once  a  strange  scene  to  conjure  up  with 
the  imagination,  and  a  striking  commentary  on  the 
enduring  power  of  the  Hebrew  hymns. 

Scarcely  less  impressive,  perhaps,  are  the  more 
peaceful  associations  which  made  the  Psalms  not 
only  the  banner  and  the  symbol,  but  also  the 


184  THE  HUGUENOTS,  1524-98 

synonym  of  the  Reformed  Churches,  and  connect 
them  with  the  industries,  the  private  lives,  the 
learning,  or  the  arts  of  the  Huguenots. 

"Palissy  ware,"  with  its  lustrous  glaze  and  lifelike 
reproductions  of  natural  objects,  was  the  invention  of 
Bernard  Palissy,  the  Huguenot  potter,  "ouvrier  en 
terre  et  inventeur  de  rustiques  figures."  In  his 
indomitable  efforts  to  solve  the  mystery  of  enamel, 
he  had  stripped  his  dwelling  bare  of  furniture,  and 
had  beggared  himself,  his  wife,  and  his  children. 
Worn  out  with  watching  his  furnace,  shrunk  to  a 
skeleton,  mocked  by  his  neighbours,  bitterly  re- 
proached by  his  family,  he  found  consolation  in  the 
Psalms.  As  he  wandered  through  the  fields  round 
Saintes,  observing  the  beauty  and  variety  of  that 
nature,  which  he  learned  to  imitate  with  such 
marvellous  skill,  he  compared  the  infinite  power  and 
wisdom  and  goodness  of  God  with  his  own  petty 
cares  and  trials.  "  I  have  fallen  on  my  face,"  he  says, 
"and  adoring  God,  cried  unto  Him  in  spirit,  'What 
is  man  that  Thou  art  mindful  of  him '  (Ps.  viii., 
verse  4) ;  and,  'Not  unto  us,  O  Lord,  not  unto  us,  but 
to  Thy  Name  give  the  praise'"  (Ps.  cxv.,  verse  1). 

To  John  Calvin,  the  theologian  of  the  French  Pro- 
testants, belongs  the  honour  of  editing  the  first  printed 
edition  of  metrical  psalms  for  church  worship. 
Marot's  translation  of  thirty  Psalms  had  received  the 
royal  licence  on  November  30th,  1541.  Three  years 
before,  Calvin  had  become  the  pastor  of  the  French 
Protestant  Church  at  Strasburg.  Tlfere,  in  1539,  he 
had  caused  to  be  printed  one  Psalm  in  prose  (cxiii.), 
and  seventeen  in  verse,  set  to  music.  Of  these 
metrical  translations,  twelve  were  by  Marot ;  the 
remaining  five  were  by  Calvin  himself,  in  whom  the 


CALVIN  AND  BEZA  185 

genius  of  philosophy  had  not  destroyed  the  natural 
taste  for  poetry.  At  Geneva,  it  was  one  of  Calvin's 
first  acts  to  introduce  the  chanting  of  psalms  into  the 
public  worship  of  the  Reformed  Church  (Nov.  1541). 
In  his  preface  to  the  Genevan  edition  of  Marot's 
Fifty  Psalms,  together  with  a  liturgy  and  a  catechism, 
June  10th,  1543,  he  says  that,  for  the  worship  of  God, 
"  Nous  ne  trouverons  meilleures  chansons  ne  plus  pro- 
pres  pour  ce  faire,  que  les  pseaumes  de  David,  lesquels 
le  sainct  Esprit  luy  a  dictez  et  faits."  It  was  to  the 
Psalms  that  he  himself  turned  in  mental  troubles,  as 
well  as  in  the  throes  of  pain  and  death.  In  any  anxiety 
of  mind,  he  repeated  the  words  of  Psalm  vi.,  verse  3, 
"  My  soul  is  sore  troubled  :  but,  Lord,  how  long  wilt 
Thou  punish  me  ? "  In  the  agony  of  mortal  pain,  he 
groaned  out,  "I  became  dumb,  and  opened  not  my 
mouth ;  for  it  was  Thy  doing "  (Ps.  xxxix.,  verse 
10).  It  was  fully  enough,  for  him,  he  said,  to  know 
that  it  was  God's  hand.  Almost  his  last  words  were 
a  fragment  from  the  Psalms,  "  How  long,  O  Lord  ? " 
(Ps.  xiii.,  verse  1) ;  but  even  the  cry  of  weariness 
rather  expressed  his  lament  for  the  calamities 
of  the  Huguenots,  than  his  own  impatience  of 
spirit. 

In  his  later  years,  Calvin's  colleague  at  Geneva 
was  Theodore  de  Beza  (1519-1605),  the  writer  of  the 
metrical  version  of  Psalm  Ixviii.,  which  was  the  battle- 
song  of  the  Huguenots.  Taste  for  the  culture  of  the 
Renaissance,  passion  for  poetry,  worldly  success  and 
fame,  had  weakened  the  impression  of  the  religious 
training  of  his  youth.  A  dangerous  illness  revived 
his  former  feelings.  Escaping  from  the  bondage  of 
Egypt,  as  he  called  his  previous  life,  he  took  refuge 
with  Calvin  at  Geneva.  In  1548,  when  he,  for  the 


186  THE  HUGUENOTS,  1524-98 

first  time,  attended  the  service  of  the  Reformed 
Assembly,  the  congregation  was  singing  Psalm  xci., 
"Whoso  dwelleth  under  the  defence  of  the  Most 
High,  shall  abide  under  the  shadow  of  the  Almighty." 
He  never  forgot  the  effect  of  the  words.  They  sup- 
ported him  in  all  the  difficulties  of  his  subsequent  life  ; 
they  conquered  his  fears,  and  gave  him  courage  to 
meet  every  danger.  To  the  work  of  translating  the 
Psalms  into  French  verse,  and  into  Latin  prose  and 
Latin  verse,  Beza  devoted  the  best  years  of  his  life. 
His  translation  into  French  verse,  completing  that  of 
Marot,  was  published  at  Lyons  in  1562.  During 
sleepless  nights,  Beza  used  to  repeat  to  himself 
the  morning  hymn  of  eastern  Christians,  the 
favourite  psalm  of  St  Chrysostom,  "O  God,  Thou 
art  my  God;  early  will  I  seek  Thee,"  etc.  (Ps. 
Ixiii.).  When  this  veteran  of  the  Reformation  died 
(Oct.  13th,  1605),  it  was  with  a  text  from  the  Psalms 
upon  his  lips,  "If  Thou,  Lord,  wilt  be  extreme  to 
mark  what  is  done  amiss,  O  Lord,  who  may  abide 
it  ?  "  (Ps.  cxxx.,  verse  3). 

By  a  text  from  the  Psalms,  Robert  Estienne, 
the  famous  printer,  was  sustained  throughout  his 
long  struggle  with  the  theologians  of  the  Sorbonne, 
who  proscribed  his  editions  of  the  Bible  in  the 
vulgar  tongue.  "Whenever,"  he  said,  "I  recall  to 
mind  the  war  that  I  have  waged  with  the  Sorbonne, 
these  twenty  years  and  more,  I  have  been 
astonished  that  so  small  and  frail  a  person 
as  myself  could  have  had  strength  to  continue  the 
struggle.  Yet  every  time  that  memory  reminds  me 
of  my  deliverance,  that  voice  which  in  Psalm  cxxvi. 
celebrates  the  redemption  of  the  Church,  strikes  an 
echo  in  my  heart :  '  When  the  Lord  turned  again  the 


CASAUBON  187 

captivity  of  Sion,  then  were  we  like  unto  them  that 
dream' "  (verse  1). 

On  August  20th,  1608,  the  great  scholar,  Casaubon, 
was  going  with  his  wife  to  the  Huguenot  worship  at 
Charenton  in  an  open  boat  on  the  Seine,  singing 
psalms  as  they  went.  They  had  finished  Psalm  xci., 
and  had  reached  verse  7  of  Psalm  xcii.,  when  a  heavy 
barge  struck  the  stern  of  his  boat  and  threw  his  wife 
into  the  river.  Casaubon  saved  her,  after  almost  losing 
his  own  life  in  the  effort.  But,  in  doing  so,  he  dropped 
into  the  river  his  Book  of  Psalms,  given  to  him  by 
his  wife  as  a  wedding-present,  and  for  twenty-two 
years  the  constant  companion  of  his  travels.  They 
reached  the  Temple,  and  were  present  at  the  services. 
When  the  chant  of  the  Psalms  began,  Casaubon  put 
his  hand  into  his  pocket  for  his  book,  and  for  the  first 
time  discovered  his  loss.  He  did  not  recover  himself 
till  the  congregation  had  finished  more  than  half  the 
86th  Psalm.  The  verse  at  which  he  was  able  to  join 
in  the  singing  was  the  end  of  the  13th :  "  and  thou 
hast  delivered  my  soul  from  the  nethermost  hell." 
"I  could  not  but  remember,"  says  Casaubon  in  his 
journal,  "that  place  of  Ambrose  where  he  says,  'This 
is  the  peculiarity  of  the  Psalter,  that  every  one  can  use 
its  words  as  if  they  were  completely  and  individually 
his  own/  " 

A  story  which  illustrates  his  love  of  the  Psalms, 
is  told  of  Jean  Eousseau,  the  Huguenot  painter 
(1630-93),  who,  for  his  religious  opinions,  was  shut 
out  from  the  Eoyal  Academy  of  painting,  and  died 
an  exile  in  London.  The  Duchess  of  Orleans,  who 
had  been  compelled  to  leave  her  home  in  the  Palatin- 
ate, to  abjure  the  Protestant  faith,  and  to  marry  the 
brother  of  Louis  XIV.,  wrote  to  her  sister :  "  You 


188  THE  HUGUENOTS,  1524-98 

must  not  think  that  I  never  sing  the  Psalms  or 
Lutheran  hymns.  I  sing  them  constantly,  and  find 
in  them  the  greatest  comfort.  I  must  tell  you  what 
happened  to  me  in  connection  with  them.  I  did  not 
know  that  M.  Eousseau,  who  has  painted  the  Orangery 
at  Versailles,  belonged  to  the  Eeforrned  Eeligion ;  he 
was  at  work  on  a  scaffolding,  and  I,  thinking  myself 
alone  in  the  gallery,  began  to  sing  the  16th  Psalm.  I 
had  hardly  finished  the  first  verse,  when  I  saw  some 
one  come  hurriedly  down  from  the  scaffolding  and 
fall  at  my  feet.  It  was  Eousseau.  I  thought  he  had 
gone  mad.  '  Good  God !  Eousseau,'  said  I,  '  what  is 
the  matter  ? '  '  Is  it  possible,  Madame/  he  answered, 
'  that  you  still  remember  your  Psalms  and  sing  them  ? 
May  God  bless  you,  and  confirm  you  in  these  good 
feelings ! '  His  eyes  were  full  of  tears." 

Upon  France  of  to-day  the  history  of  the  Eeformed 
Churches  has  left  its  lasting  mark.  Memories  of  this 
struggle  for  existence  linger  round  the  ruins  of  castles, 
churches,  and  towns.  They  are  preserved  in  caves, 
like  those  of  Lozere,  which  were  the  refuges  and  the 
storehouses  of  the  Huguenots.  New  cathedrals,  like 
those  of  Orleans  or  Uzes,  are  monuments  of  the 
religious  bigotry  which  destroyed  the  older  edifices ; 
new  towns,  such  as  Privas,  record  the  atrocities  of 
a  religious  war  which  did  not  hesitate  to  turn  cities 
into  deserts.  Places,  like  the  Place  du  Murier  at 
Angoul£me,  or  the  bridge  of  Orthez,  are  traditionally 
associated  with  deeds  of  atrocity,  when  the  Huguenots, 
goaded  to  desperation  by  persecution  and  massacre, 
turned,  with  the  Psalms  on  their  lips,  to  destroy  their 
oppressors.  The  poetry  of  tie  Huguenots,  partly 
religious,  partly  polemical,  partly  warlike,  is  still  sung 
in  country  districts,  where  it  enshrines  the  hopes  of 


RELIGIOUS  WARS  IN  FRANCE  189 

the    Protestents,   long    since    dispelled,   as  in    the 
stanza: 

"  Nostre  Dieu  renrersera 
Vous  et  vostre  loy  romaine. 
Et  du  tout  se  moquera 
De  vostre  entreprise  vaine. 

Han,  Han,  Papegots ! 

Faites  place  aux  Huguenots." 

In  the  Angoumois,  to  this  day,  covered  utensils  of 
earthenware  are  called  Huguenotes,  because  they  were 
used  by  the  Protestants  to  cook  meat  on  jours  maigres. 
Inscriptions  over  the  doors  of  houses  still  indicate  the 
homes  of  the  Huguenots;  at  Xainton  (Dept.  des 
Deux  S&vres),  for  example,  is  the  motto  from  Psalm 
cxxvii.,  verse  1  : 

**  On  a  beau  sa  maison  batir, 
Si  le  Seigneur  n'y  met  la  main, 
Cela  n'est  que  bfitir  en  vain." 

The  Rue  du  Renard,  no  uncommon  name  in  street 
nomenclature,  commemorates  the  times  when  Protes- 
tants hunted  Catholic  priests  with  cries  of  "Kenard." 
"Le  Roi  Hugon?  with  whose  midnight  depredations 
children  are  frightened  at  Tours,  is  wrongly  supposed 
to  have  given  his  name  to  the  Huguenots,  who  glided 
through  the  city  in  the  shelter  of  the  darkness  to 
attend  their  places  of  worship.  In  Bas-Poitou  wolves 
were  popularly  called  Soubises,  in  memory  of  the 
terrible  leader  of  the  Protestants ;  and  many  of  the 
Druidic  stones,  which  are  scattered  over  the  country, 
are  indifferently  known  as  Pierres  du  Diable  and 
Pierres  de  Soubise.  Even  the  nicknames  of  the 
Huguenots  suggest  the  desperate  character  of  the 
strife.  Soubise  was  called  le  roi  des  Parpaillaux 
(the  patois  for  papillons),  because  he  and  his  followers 


190  THE  HUGUENOTS,  1524-98 

fluttered  round  the  fire  and  the  stake.  The  word 
rnouchard  is  supposed  to  be  derived  from  Antoine 
de  Mouchy,  the  most  zealous  ferreter-out  of  heretics. 
Proverbs  like  riche  comme  un  Huguenot,  or  honnete 
comme  un  Huguenot,  recall  the  envy  which  was  roused 
by  the  virtues  and  wealth  of  the  Protestants.  Deepest 
of  all  is  the  mark  which  the  suppression  of  French 
Protestantism  has  left  on  the  political,  industrial,  and 
intellectual  life  of  the  nation.  It  paved  the  way  for 
the  absolute  despotism  of  the  Crown  and  the  conse- 
quent reaction  of  the  Revolution.  It  robbed  France 
of  the  hands  and  brains,  arts  and  industries,  of  the 
best  educated,  the  most  laborious,  frugal,  and  con- 
scientious of  her  sons.  It  encouraged,  by  its  repres- 
sion of  liberty  of  thought,  the  scepticism  of  the 
eighteenth  century  and  the  anti-clerical  feeling  of  the 
late  Eepublic. 

From  the  martyrology  of  Crespin,  and  other  writers, 
might  be  cited  almost  innumerable  instances,  in  which 
the  Psalms  sustained  the  courage  of  French  Protes- 
tants in  the  midst  of  mortal  agony.  In  1524,  when 
the  Psalter  had  not  been  versified,  and  was  hardly 
known  in  the  prose  translation  of  Lefevre  d'Etaples, 
Jean  Leclerc,  the  wool-comber  of  Meaux,  was  burned 
alive  at  Metz.  Before  the  fires  were  lighted,  he  was 
subjected  to  horrible  tortures  ;  but  his  constancy  never 
wavered  as  he  repeated  the  same  words  which  had 
encouraged  the  martyrs  of  the  early  Christian  era : 
"  Their  idols  are  silver  and  gold :  even  the  work  of 
men's  hands  .  .  .  They  that  make  them  are  like  unto 
them  ;  and  so  are  all  such  as  put  their  trust  in  them." 
(Ps.  cxv.,  verses  4-8).  A  year  later,  in  the  same  year 
(1525)  in  which  the  Inquisition  was  established  in 
France,  Wolfgang  Schuch,  the  Lutheran  preacher  *in 


FRANCIS  I.  191 

Lorraine,  was  burned  alive  at  Nancy,  repeating  at  the 
stake  the  words  of  Psalm  li. 

The  persecution  of  the  Protestants  had  begun 
while  Francis  I.  was  engaged  in  war  with  Charles  V., 
or  detained  a  prisoner  in  Spain,  and  while  Louise  of 
Savoy  was  Regent  of  France.  Taken  captive  at  the 
battle  of  Pavia  (1525),  Francis  had  been  brought 
under  a  guard  to  the  Church  of  the  Certosa.  When 
he  entered  the  building,  the  monks  were  singing 
Psalm  cxix.,  verses  65-70.  At  verse  71  the  king 
recovered  himself  sufficiently  to  join  in  the  words,  "  It 
is  good  for  me  that  I  have  been  in  trouble,  that  I 
may  learn  Thy  statutes."  Strong  hopes  were  enter- 
tained that  Francis,  for  love  of  his  sister  Marguerite, 
from  political  rivalry,  or  from  personal  sympathy, 
might  place  himself  at  the  head  of  the  Reformed 
movement.  The  policy  of  the  Crown  was  indeed,  for 
a  time,  more  tolerant.  Francis  had  delayed  to  execute 
the  decree  of  the  Sorbonne  against  Marot's  versions. 
Though  he  ultimately  forbade  their  publication,  he 
was  often  heard  humming  the  airs,  and,  on  his  death- 
bed, he  ordered  the  book  to  be  read  aloud  for  his  con- 
solation. "  Knowing  that  his  last  hour  was  come,  he 
set  the  affairs  of  his  house  in  order,  commanded  that 
the  Psalms  of  Clement  Marot  should  be  brought  to 
him,  caused  some  to  be  read  aloud  to  him,  and,  com- 
mending his  people  and  his  servants  to  the  Dauphin," 
died  March  31st,  1547.  But  the  general  policy  was  not 
reversed,  and  Leclerc  and  Schuch  head  the  long  list 
of  Protestant  martyrs,  who,  from  1542  onwards, 
chanted  the  Psalms  in  Marot's  version  as  they  were 
led  to  the  scaffold  or  the  stake.  Their  song  was 
taken  up  by  the  bystanders  in  the  street.  It  was 
thus  that  at  Meaux,  in  1546,  the  fifty-seven  prisoners, 


192  THE  HUGUENOTS,  1524-98 

and  their  friends  in  the  crowd,  joined  in  Psalm  Ixxix. 
as  they  were  led  to  prison ;  and  it  was  the  same  Psalm 
which  the  fourteen  who  were  condemned  to  death 
sang  on  their  way  to  the  scaffold : 

ff  Les  gens  entrez  sont  en  ton  heritage, 
Us  ont  pollu,  seigneur,  par  leur  outrage, 
Ton  temple  sainct,  Jerusalem  destruite, 
Si  qu'en  monceaux  de  pierres  1'ont  reduite. 

Us  ont  bailie  les  corps 

De  tes  seruiteurs  morts 

Aux  corbeaux  pour  les  paistre, 

Le  chair  des  bien-viuans 

Aux  animaux  suyuans 

Bois  et  pleine  champestre." 

This  is  the  Psalm  which  was  used  by  the  Jews 
every  Friday,  in  lamentation  over  the  ruins  of  Jeru- 
salem. The  same  Psalm  was  applied  alike  to  the 
zealous  excesses  of  the  Huguenots  or  the  Puritans, 
and  to  the  profane  outrages  of  the  French  Revolution. 
It  was  used  by  the  Carthusians  of  Woburn  Abbey  at 
the  time  of  the  dissolution  of  the  monasteries,  when 
Abbot  Hobbs  called  the  brethren  together,  and  bade 
them,  "for  the  reverence  of  God,"  to  pray  devoutly, 
and  recite  the  Psalm  Dem  venerunt  gentes.  Verse  2 
of  the  same  Psalm  was  the  motto  chosen  by  the  Jesuit 
Parsons  for  his  book,  De persecutione  Anglicana  (1581). 
The  same  words  were  suggested  to  Luisa  de  Carvajal 
by  the  sight  of  those  Eoman  Catholics  who  were 
executed  in  London  in  1608.  "We  can  hardly  go 
out  to  walk  without  seeing  the  heads  and  limbs  of 
our  dear  and  holy  ones  stuck  up  on  the  gates  that 
divide  the  streets,  and  the  birds  of  the  air  perching  on 
them ;  which  makes  me  think  of  the  verse  in  the 
Psalms,  '  The  dead  bodies  of  thy  servants  have  they 


MAROTS  PSALMS  193 

given  to  be  meat  unto  the  fowls  of  the  air' "  (Psalm 
Ixxix.,  verse  2). 

In  vain  the  Catholic  priests,  attending  at  the 
executions  of  the  Huguenots,  tried  to  drown  the 
thunder  of  Marot's  Psalms  with  their  Latin  chants. 
The  words  lacked  the  savage  energy  of  the  vernacular 
French ;  the  unknown  tongue  awakened  no  response 
from  the  crowd.  Many  victims  were  gagged  before 
being  burned :  but  the  fire  severed  the  cords  which 
held  the  instruments  in  their  place,  and,  with  charred 
lips,  the  sufferers  raised  the  Psalms.  Otners,  whose 
tongues  had  been  cut  out,  uttered  sounds  in  which, 
though  barely  articulate,  bystanders  recognised  the 
familiar  words.  So  it  was  at  Angers,  in  1556,  that 
Jean  Rabec  at  the  stake,  while  he  was  being  alter- 
nately raised  and  lowered  into  the  flames,  continued 
to  sing  Psalm  Ixxix.,  half  choked  with  blood,  till  his 
end  arrived.  It  was  while  a  Protestant  congregation 
was  singing  psalms  in  the  grange  at  Vassy,  in  1562, 
that  Guise  gave  the  signal  for  the  massacres  of  the 
Huguenots  which  finally  provoked  the  Wars  of 
Religion.  When  once  the  sword  was  drawn,  the 
Psalms  became  the  war-songs  of  the  Huguenots. 
On  the  battlefields  of  Coligny  or  Henry  of  Navarre 
were  heard  such  chants  as  Psalms  Ixxvi.  or  cxviii., 
or,  above  all,  Beza's  version  of  Psalm  Ixviii. : 

"  Que  Dieu  se  monstre  seulement, 
Et  on  verra  soudainement 
Abandonner  la  place 
Le  camp  des  ennemis  espars, 
Et  ses  haineux,  de  toutes  pars, 
Fuir  deuant  sa  face." 

In  the  early  periods  of  the  civil  wars  of  the  six- 
teenth century,  the  Huguenots  moved  as  one  man ; 


194  THE  HUGUENOTS,  1524-98 

their  union  was  their  strength.  The  central  figure  is 
Gaspard  de  Coligny,  as  Henry  IV.  is  the  leader  of 
their  later  stages.  Throughout  the  struggle,  the 
royal  family  gave  chieftains  to  Eoman  Catholics 
and  Protestants  alike ;  both  sides  fought  under 
princes  of  the  blood.  On  both  sides  were  arrayed 
the  heads  of  powerful  families,  who  led  their  feudal 
levies  to  the  field.  Politics  and  religion  were 
mingled ;  the  Eoman  Catholics  represented  the 
influence  of  Spain :  the  Protestants  raised  the  cry 
of  "France  for  the  French."  Though  the  Eoman 
Catholics  showed  but  little  religious  enthusiasm,  and 
all  the  zeal  was  to  be  found  among  the  Hugue- 
nots, yet  the  ultimate  triumph  of  toleration  was 
effected  by  the  triumph  of  a  political  party,  which 
placed  its  chief  upon  the  throne  in  the  person  of  Henry 
of  Navarre. 

In  March  1568,  the  Treaty  of  Longjumeau  gave 
the  Huguenots  a  breathing  space.  Their  leaders 
retired  to  their  homes  in  the  country ;  their  followers 
were  disbanded,  their  mercenaries  dismissed.  Gaspard 
de  Coligny,  Admiral  of  France,  returned  to  his  gardens 
on  the  terraced  slopes  of  Chatillon-sur-Loing,  and, 
clad  in  farmer's  dress,  pruned  his  fruit  trees.  But 
the  treacherous  calm  only  half  concealed  the  coming 
storm.  Catherine  de  Medicis  merely  sought  to  gain 
time.  The  peace  was  unreal.  No  effort  was  made 
to  restrain  the  violence  of  the  Eoman  Catholics. 
CoJigny's  treasures  had  been  seized,  and  he  could 
obtain  no  redress.  Shots  were  fired  at  him ;  he 
was  ordered  to  reduce  his  retinue ;  one  of  his 
gentlemen  was  murdered.  He  retired  to  the  castle 
of  his  brother  Andelot,  at  Tanlay,  near  Tonnerre, 
so  that  he  might  be  close  to  Conde  at  Noyers. 


COLIGNY  AND  CONDE  195 

There  the  stern,  reserved  Coligny,  whose  thoughtful 
serious  face,  with  its  square,  high  forehead,  firm 
mouth  and  melancholy  grey  eyes,  looks  down  from 
among  the  portraits  of  the  Grands  Amiraux  of  France, 
held  frequent  counsel  with  his  colleague.  No  two 
men  could  be  more  different  from  each  other  than 
the  two  leaders  of  the  Huguenot  cause.  The  one 
was  the  Washington,  the  other  the  Rupert,  of  the 
Huguenots.  Coligny,  cold  in  manner,  severe  in 
demeanour,  slow  in  the  expression  of  his  opinions, 
pitiless  towards  himself,  inflexible  in  his  judgment 
towards  others,  was  most  [formidable  in  defeat,  and 
won  his  greatest  successes  in  retrieving  disasters. 
Upon  this  distinctive  feature  in  the  Admiral's 
greatness  Voltaire  has  seized,  in  the  Henriade: 

"  Savant  dans  les  combats,  savant  dans  les  retraites, 
Plus  grand,  plus  glorieux,  plus  craint  dans  ses  defaites, 
Que  Dunois  ni  Gaston  ne  1'ont  jamais  ete 
Dans  le  cours  triomphant  de  leur  prosperite/' 

Conde  was  a  dashing  cavalry  officer,  whose  charge 
was  irresistible.  Chivalrously  courageous,  fond  of 
pleasure,  with  nothing  of  the  Puritan  in  his  nature ; 
loving  other  people's  wives,  so  Brantome  says,  as 
much  as  his  own  ;  excelling,  in  spite  of  his  slight  figure 
and  round  shoulders,  in  all  manly  exercises ;  he  was 
the  darling  of  the  people  of  Paris,  and  disputed  their 
favour  with  the  Due  de  Guise.  On  these  two  men, 
each  so  different,  depended  the  fortune  of  the  Hugue- 
not cause.  To  destroy  them  was  the  aim  of  Catherine. 
Had  not  the  Duke  of  Alva  said,  that  the  head  of  one 
salmon  was  worth  a  thousand  frogs  ? 

In  the  summer  months  of  1568  the  royal  troops 
were  collected  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Tanlay  and 


196  THE  HUGUENOTS,  1524-98 

Noyers.  Koyal  guards  held  the  gatehouses,  fords, 
and  bridges.  A  warning  reached  Conde  and  Coligny. 
A  horseman  galloped  past  Noyers,  sounding  his  horn, 
and  crying  out,  "  The  stag  is  in  the  snare !  The  hunt 
is  up  ! "  Instant  flight  was  necessary.  At  midnight, 
on  August  25th,  1568,  the  Huguenot  leaders,  with 
their  families  and  fifty  followers,  left  Noyers  to  run 
the  gauntlet  of  their  enemies,  and  traverse  the  many 
hundred  miles  which  lay  between  them  and  then' 
refuge  at  Rochelle.  The  pursuit  was  hot.  Led  by  a 
huntsman  who  knew  the  fords  and  forest  paths,  they 
reached  the  Loire  at  a  spot  above  Cosne,  near  Sancerre. 
They  crossed  the  river,  their  horses  wading  only  to 
their  girths.  As  day  broke,  the  river  rose  in  flood. 
The  fugitives  were  saved.  They  had  placed  a  barrier 
between  themselves  and  their  pursuers.  E-ochelle 
could  yet  be  reached  in  safety.  They  fell  on  their 
knees  on  the  farther  bank,  and  gave  thanks,  singing 
the  114th  Psalm,  "What  ailed  thee,  O  thou 
sea,"  etc. 

The  war  was  renewed.  At  Jarnac  (1569)  the 
Roman  Catholics  gained  a  victory,  in  which  Conde 
was  killed.  At  Moncontour,  in  the  same  year, 
Coligny  himself  was  disastrously  defeated.  "Wounded 
in  three  places,  he  was  carried  from  the  field  in  a 
litter.  As  Lestrange,  one  of  his  old  companions  in 
arms,  also  severely  wounded,  was  being  carried 
past  him,  he  thrust  his  head  into  the  Admiral's 
litter,  and  without  strength  for  more,  whispered, 
"Si  est-ce  que  Dieu  est  tres  doux."  ("Truly  God 
is  loving  unto  Israel,  even  unto  such  as  are  of  a 
clean  heart,"  Ps.  Ixxiii.,  verse  1).  The  words,  as 
Coligny  told  a  friend,  revived  his  failing  courage. 
His  firmness  returned,  and  he  set  himself  to  restore 


HEN&Y  OF  NAVARRE  197 

the  fortunes  of  his  cause.  From  all  the  mountain 
districts  of  the  Vivarais,  the  Cevennes,  and  the 
Forez,  the  Huguenots  flocked  to  his  standard.  A 
new  spirit  animated  his  followers.  They  sang,  as 
they  passed  through  a  hostile  country  and  deserted 
villages, 

((  Le  prince  de  Cond6 
II  a  este  tue, 
Mais  monsieur  TAmiral 
Est  encore  a  cheval 
Pour  chasser  les  papaux,  papaux." 

Coligny's  name  overshadowed  that  of  the  king.  "  De 
TAmiral  de  France,"  says  Brantome,  "il  etait  plus 
parle  que  du  roi  de  France."  At  the  head  of  his  army 
he  had,  within  a  year,  extorted  from  Catherine  de 
Medicis,  and  the  unhappy  red-haired  youth,  who  bears 
the  sinister  title  of  Charles  IX.,  the  Treaty  of  St 
Germain-en-Laye  (1570). 

Coligny  was  the  chief  victim  of  the  Massacre  of 
St  Bartholomew,  August  24th,  1572.  The  same  event 
introduces  the  hero  of  the  second  period  of  the  Civil 
Wars.  A  prisoner  at  the  court  of  Charles  IX.,  sur- 
rounded in  Paris  by  the  murderers  of  his  friends, 
tempted  by  all  the  sensual  allurements  which  Catherine 
de  Medicis  had  thrown  in  his  way,  Henry  of  Navarre, 
seemed  to  have  forgotten  ambition,  and  to  welcome 
inaction.  Only  two  of  his  former  attendants  remained 
faithful  to  the  young  king — his  squire,  d'Aubigne,  and 
his  valet,  Armagnac.  Even  they  were  weary  of  the 
task,  and  on  the  eve  of  quitting  so  unworthy  a  master. 
But  one  evening,  when  Henry  was  in  bed,  ill,  feverish 
and  depressed,  they  heard  him  singing  softly  to  him- 
self the  words  of  Psalm  Ixxxviii.  (verses  7-10,  18), 
"  Thou  hast  put  mine  acquaintance  far  from  me,  and 


198  THE  HUGUENOTS,  1524-98 

made  me  to  be  abhorred  of  them.  I  am  so  fast  in 
prison  that  I  cannot  get  forth.  .  .  .  Dost  Thou  shew 
wonders  among  the  dead ;  or  shall  the  dead  rise  up 
again  and  praise  Thee?  .  .  .  My  lovers  and  friends 
hast  Thou  put  away  from  me,  and  hid  mine  acquaint- 
ance out  of  my  sight."  The  squire  felt  that  the  young 
king's  chivalrous  spirit  was  not  wholly  extinct.  He 
urged  him  to  throw  in  his  lot  with  the  faithful 
adherents  who  were  fighting  that  enemy  whom  Henry 
himself  was  serving.  A  few  months  later,  the  king 
escaped  from  Paris,  crossed  the  Seine  at  Poissy, 
traversed  a  country  held  by  the  forces  of  the  Guises, 
and  at  Alen<jon  placed  himself  at  the  head  of  the 
Huguenots.  The  next  morning  when  he  attended 
service,  the  psalm  which  was  appointed  to  be  sung 
was  Psalm  xxi.,  "The  king  shall  rejoice  in  thy 
strength,  0  Lord,"  etc.  The  omen  seemed  so  pro- 
pitious that  Henry  asked  whether  the  psalm  had  been 
selected  to  welcome  him  to  the  camp.  But  it  had 
come  in  its  natural  course.  Henry  remembered,  so 
d'Aubigne  tells  the  story,  that  this  was  the  same  psalm 
which  the  companion  of  his  passage  across  the  Seine 
at  Poissy  had  sung,  as,  with  their  bridles  on  their 
arms,  they  walked  the  horses  to  and  fro  by  the  side 
of  the  river,  waiting  for  the  rest  of  the  party. 

Already  Rochelle  had  repulsed  the  triumphant 
Roman  Catholics.  The  town  had  preserved  its 
municipal  independence  since  it  was  surrendered 
by  the  English  at  the  Peace  of  Bretigny.  Taxing 
itself,  electing  its  own  magistrates,  protected  on 
the  land  by  impregnable  walls,  opening  or  closing 
its  port  at  its  own  pleasure,  sweeping  the  seas 
with  its  own  powerful  navies,  Rochelle  was  the 
Venice  or  Amsterdam  of  France.  It  was  also  its 


BATTLE  OF  COURTRAS  199 

Geneva,  the  city  of  refuge  to  which  fled  Protestants 
from  all  parts  of  the  country.  But  for  the  moment 
its  fate  trembled  in  the  balance.  Outside  the  walls 
of  the  Huguenot  stronghold  were  encamped  the 
royal  armies,  in  which  Brantome  held  a  command. 
Within  the  city  were  crowded  the  citizens  and 
refugees.  After  five  weeks  of  battering  and 
skirmishes,  a  general  assault  was  delivered.  Four 
times  the  besiegers  were  driven  back,  and,  as  they 
recoiled,  the  battle-song  of  the  Huguenots,  Que 
Dieu  se  monstre  settlement  (Ps.  Ixviii.),  rose  in 
triumph  from  the  ramparts.  The  siege  was  raised 
(1573),  and  thus  the  claim  of  the  citizens  was  vin- 
dicated that  Eochelle  was  founded  on  an  impregnable 
rock. 

In  the  years  that  followed,  the  interest  of  the  Wars 
of  Religion  centres  round  Henry  of  Navarre.  With 
two  at  least  of  his  victories,  the  Psalms  are  strikingly 
associated.  At  the  battle  of  Courtras,  October  20th, 
1587,  before  the  fight  began,  the  Huguenots  knelt  in 
prayer,  and  chanted  Ps.  cxviii.,  verses  24,  25 : 

"  La  voici  1'heureuse  iournee 
Que  Dieu  a  faite  a  plein  desir, 
Par  nous  soit  ioye  demenee 
Et  prenons  en  elle  plaisir. 
O  Dieu  eternel,  ie  te  prie, 
Ie  te  prie,  ton  Roy  maintien : 
O  Dieu,  ie  te  prie  et  reprie, 
Sauue  ton  Roy  et  1'entretien." 

"'Sdeath,"  cried  a  young  courtier  to  the  Due  de 
Joyeuse,  who  commanded  the  Roman  Catholics,  "  the 
cowards  are  afraid ;  they  are  confessing  themselves." 
"Sire,"  said  a  scarred  veteran,  "when  the  Huguenots 
behave  thus,  they  are  ready  to  fight  to  the  death." 


200  THE  HUGUENOTS,  1524-98 

The  battle  ended  in  the  triumph  of  Henry.  The  Luc 
de  Joyeuse  was  killed,  and  his  army  utterly  routed. 
More  than  forty  years  afterwards  (1630),  d'Aubigne 
lay  on  his  deathbed.  Perhaps  the  memory  of  the 
victory  returned  at  his  last  moments  to  the  dying 
man.  "Two  hours  before  his  death,"  so  wrote  his 
widow,  "  with  a  glad  countenance,  and  with  a  peaceful 
contented  mind,"  he  repeated  the  Psalm,  "  La  voici 
1'heureuse  iournee,"  etc.,  and  so  passed  to  his  rest. 

In  1589  Henry  gained  another  victory  under  the 
walls  of  the  Chateau  d'Arques,  the  picturesque  ruins 
of  which  are  still  standing  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
Dieppe.  There  the  king  and  his  Huguenot  followers 
were  threatened  with  destruction  by  the  Due  de 
Mayenne  and  the  army  of  the  League.  His  forces 
were  but  few  compared  with  the  number  of  those 
arrayed  against  them ;  his  reinforcements  had  failed 
him ;  the  courage  of  his  men  was  crushed  by  the 
weight  of  superior  numbers.  "  Come,  M.  le  Ministre," 
cried  the  king  to  Pastor  Damour,  "  lift  the  psalm.  It 
is  full  time."  Then,  above  the  din  of  the  marching 
armies,  rose  the  austere  melody  of  the  68th  Psalm, 
set  to  the  words  of  Beza,  and  swinging  with  the  march 
of  the  Huguenot  companies.  Pressing  onwards,  the 
men  of  Dieppe  forced  themselves  like  an  iron  wedge 
through  the  lines  of  the  League,  and  split  them 
asunder.  The  sea  fog  cleared  away ;  Henry's  artillery- 
men in  the  castle  could  see  to  take  aim ;  the  roll  of 
cannon  marked  the  time  of  the  psalm;  and  the 
Leaguers  were  scattered. 

The  triumph  of  Henry  IV.  in  1598  restored  the 
Psalter  to  the  Court  of  France.  Once  more  the 
Psalms,  which  Francis  I.  had  hummed  so  gaily,  were 
sung  at  the  Louvre.  By  the  Edict  of  Nantes,  peace 


EDICT  OF  NANTES  201 

was  for  a  time  imposed  upon  France.  It  was  the 
Magna  Charta  of  the  Reformed  churches,  guarantee- 
ing to  the  Huguenots  freedom  ol  worship  in  specified 
places,  admitting  them  to  civil  rights,  offices,  and 
dignities,  providing  for  the  trial  of  Protestant  causes 
by  mixed  benches  of  judges,  and  securing  enjoyment 
of  these  privileges  by  the  possession  oi  fortified  towns. 
During  the  life  ot  Henry  IV.,  the  son  of  Jeanne 
d'Albret,  pupil  of  Coligny,  and  hero  of  a  hundred 
fights  against  the  Catholic  League,  the  king's  personal 
influence  maintained  the  compact.  Yet,  at  the  best, 
the  Edict  of  Nantes  proclaimed  a  truce  rather  than  a 
lasting  peace. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE   HUGUENOTS,    1600-1762   (continued) 

The  Roman  Catholic  Reaction — Vincent  de  Paul,  Francois  de 
Sales :  changed  conditions  of  the  Huguenot  cause ;  their 
effect  on  the  character  of  the  Wars  of  Religion  1621-29— 
Henri  de  Rohan,  sieges  of  Montauban  and  la  Rochelle ;  The 
Roman  Catholic  triumph  and  maintenance  of  the  strictest 
orthodoxy — Port  Royal,  Pascal,  Madame  Guyon:  Edicts 
against  the  Huguenots  and  the  use  of  the  Psalter :  the 
Vaudois  and  Henri  Arnaud  ;  Revocation  of  the  Edict  of 
Nantes  (1685) ;  persecution  of  the  French  Huguenots ;  the 
rising  in  the  Cevennes — murder  of  Fran9ois  du  Chayla, 
Cavalier  and  the  Camisards,  Bellot,  Martignargues  (1704), 
Salindres  (1709) ;  the  Pastors  of  the  Desert— Rang,  Roger, 
Benezet,  Rochette  ;  effect  of  the  Psalms  on  the  virtues  and 
defects  of  the  Huguenots. 

THE  French  Wars  of  Religion,  waged  in  the  seven- 
teenth century  by  the  Due  de  Rohan  and  Cardinal 
Richelieu,  differed  materially  from  those  led  by  the 
Guises  on  the  one  side,  and  by  Coligny  or  Henry  of 
Navarre  on  the  other.  The  Huguenots  were  now  con- 
fronted by  a  Roman  Catholic  reaction.  The  austeri- 
ties of  monastic  life  were  revived,  and  to  these  was 
added  the  cultivation  of  learning.  Benedictines, 
Dominicans,  Franciscans,  set  their  houses  in  order ; 
Clairvaux,  Citeaux,  and  Cluny  underwent  a  reforma- 
tion. Jesuits  laboured  in  the  world  for  the  advance- 


ROMAN  CATHOLIC  REACTION  203 

ment  of  the  Roman  faith,  and  multiplied  their  schools 
and  seminaries.  New  religious  orders  supplied 
preachers  and  made  proselytes.  Missions  were  con- 
ducted among  country  people  by  the  new  congrega- 
tion of  St  Vincent  de  Paul.  Women  shared  the  same 
movements.  Montmartre,  Val  de  Grace,  Port  Royal, 
became  models  of  conventual  piety.  The  Feuillant- 
ines  and  Jesuitiries  rivalled  the  zeal  of  the  Jesuits 
and  the  Feuillants.  The  work  of  educating  young 
girls  was  taken  up  by  the  Port-Royalists.  Sisters  of 
Charity  found  cells  in  the  sick-room,  and  lived  in  the 
world  unscathed,  with  the  fear  of  God  for  their  grilles, 
and  pure  modesty  for  their  veils.  Religious  communi- 
ties breathed  the  new  life  which  the  spirit  of  St  Francois 
de  Sales,  St  Vincent  de  Paul,  or  Madame  de  Chantal 
inspired.  The  ranks  of  the  secular  clergy  were 
recruited  by  men  of  ardent  faith  and  irreproachable 
conduct.  Bishops,  for  the  most  part  men  of  unstained 
reputation,  reformed  their  dioceses,  rebuilt  churches, 
reorganised  parishes,  revived  ecclesiastical  discipline, 
or  headed  philanthropic  movements,  such  as  those 
for  the  erection  of  charitable  hospitals.  Lay  society 
felt  the  influence  of  the  movement.  Missioners 
rekindled  the  Roman  faith  among  the  poorer  classes. 
Provincial  magistrates,  who  had  been  attracted  to 
the  Reformed  doctrines  by  their  logical  consistency 
or  by  jealousy  of  the  Papacy,  returned  to  the  older 
faith.  Even  at  Court,  men  and  women,  for  whom 
Fenelon  wrote  his  Counsels,  found  it  possible  to  live 
pure  lives  without  renouncing  the  business  or  plea- 
sures of  the  world. 

The  power  of  the  Roman  Catholics  was  growing, 
that  of  the  Protestants  was  decaying.  As  their 
hold  on  France  relaxed,  the  Reformed  churches 


204  THE  HUGUENOTS,  1600-1762 

grew  more  tenacious  of  their  privileges,  while  the 
Gallican  clergy  demanded  changes  in  the  Edict  of 
Nantes.  The  balance  of  parties,  on  which  the  Edict 
was  founded,  was  disturbed  by  gains  on  the  one 
side  and  losses  on  the  other.  Was  the  Edict  to 
remain  untouched  ? 

In  this  religious  reaction  the  Psalms  played  their 
part.  They  were  not  the  exclusive  possession  of  the 
Huguenots.  Men  of  the  xtype  of  Montaigne  might 
condemn  "the  promiscuous,  rash,  and  indiscreet  use 
of  the  holy  and  divine  songs  which  the  Holy  Spirit 
inspired  in  David,"  or  deprecate  placing  them  in  the 
hands  of  "  shop-boys."  But  their  power  was  recog- 
nised. The  Abbe  Desportes,  the  effeminate  Petrarch 
of  the  Court  of  Henry  III.,  translated  the  whole 
Psalter  into  French  verse.  Courtiers  and  state 
officials,  like  Jean  Metezeau,  or  Michel  de  Marillac, 
versified  the  Psalter  in  the  hope  of  rivalling  the  work 
of  Marot  and  of  Beza.  The  preface  to  the  version  of 
Metezeau,  which  is  dedicated  to  Henry  IV.,  is  a  strange 
production.  "David,"  he  says,  "was  somewhat  prone 
to  love  women,  and  that  love  of  women  is  the  only 
charge  which  Your  enemies  can  make  against  Your 
Majesty ;  but  Your  Majesty  has  one  advantage  over 
the  wise  King,  that  You  have  not  on  this  account 
drawn  down  the  wrath  of  God  neither  upon  Yourself 
nor  upon  Your  people."  Corneille  and  Kacine 
translated  portions  of  the  Psalter.  But  of  the 
numerous  translations  that  were  made  as  pious  or 
literary  exercises,  the  only  successful  version  was 
that  of  Godeau,  Bishop  of  Grasse  and  Vence.  His 
paraphrases  were  set  to  music,  and  four  of  the  airs 
were  composed  by  Louis  XIII.  himself.  In  his 
preface,  Godeau  explains  the  object  of  his  work. 


VINCENT  DE  PAUL  205 

"To  know  the  Psalms  by  heart,"  he  says,  "is 
among  Protestants  a  sign  of  their  communion. 
To  our  shame  it  must  be  said,  that,  in  towns 
or  districts  where  Protestants  are  numerous,  the 
Psalms  are  ever  on  the  lips  of  artisans  and 
labourers,  while  Catholics  are  either  dumb  or  sing 
obscene  songs."  Godeau's  success  was  greatest  in  a 
direction  which  he  scarcely  anticipated,  or  desired. 
Forbidden  by  edicts  to  sing  psalms  at  home,  in 
the  version  of  Marot  and  Beza,  the  Huguenots  sang 
them  in  that  of  the  Roman  Catholic  bishop.  So 
widespread  became  the  practice,  that  fresh  edicts 
were  issued  in  general  terms,  altogether  prohibiting 
the  singing  of  Psalms  in  French. 

But,  apart  from  the  multiplication  of  versions 
of  the  Psalms,  their  universal  influence  may  be 
illustrated  from  the  lives  of  leaders  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  reaction.  Such  men  as  St  Vincent  de 
Paul  or  St  Francois  de  Sales  may  be  taken  as 
examples. 

From  Cadiz  to  Patras  the  Mediterranean  and  its 
coasts  were  scoured  by  the  corsairs  of  Barbary.  Their 
light  galliots  and  brigantines  swept  down  on  their 
prey  with  the  swiftness  and  precision  of  the  osprey, 
overbearing  resistance  and  baffling  pursuit.  Nor  was 
it  only  the  seaman,  the  merchant,  or  the  traveller, 
who  ran  the  risk  of  slavery.  Landing  on  the  shore,  the 
corsairs  swept  off  whole  villages  into  captivity.  The 
peasant  of  Provence,  returning  home  at  nightfall  from 
pruning  his  vines  or  his  olives,  might  find  himself  in 
the  morning  chained  to  the  oar.  The  friar,  who  told  his 
beads  on  the  outskirts  of  Valencia,  might,  before  the 
week  was  out,  be  hoeing  the  rice-fields  of  Tripoli.  In 
1605,  Vincent  de  Paul  was  making  his  way  from 


206  THE  HUGUENOTS,  1600-1762 

Toulouse  by  Narbonne  to  Marseilles.  The  ship  in 
which  he  was  crossing  the  Gulf  of  Lyons  was  seized 
by  Barbary  pirates,  and  both  passengers  and  crew 
carried  to  Tunis.  Sold  as  a  slave  to  a  fisherman,  he 
passed  after  a  time  into  the  hands  of  an  apostate 
Christian  from  Nice,  who  carried  him  away  to  labour 
on  an  inland  farm.  As  he  dug  in  the  fields  under  a 
burning  sun,  he  excited  the  interest  of  one  of  the 
Turkish  wives  of  his  master.  "One  day,"  as  Vincent 
writes  in  his  letter  to  M.  De  Commet,  "  she  asked  me 
to  sing  to  her  some  of  the  praises  of  my  God."  The 
remembrance  of  the  captive  Israelites,  "How  shall 
we  sing  the  Lord's  song  in  a  strange  land  ? "  filled 
his  heart,  and  he  sang,  "By  the  waters  of  Babylon" 
(Ps.  cxxxvii.).  The  woman  told  her  husband  that 
he  had  done  wrong  to  change  his  faith,  and  she 
warmly  praised  the  religion  that  Vincent  had  ex- 
pounded to  her.  Her  words  sank  into  the  renegade's 
heart,  and  woke  his  slumbering  conscience.  He 
determined  to  escape  and  take  Vincent  with  him.  In 
1607,  they  landed  together  at  Aigues  Mortes,  and  the 
captive  was  once  more  free. 

The  same  words  have  often  expressed  the  sorrows 
of  prisoners  or  exiles.  They  rose  to  the  lips  of  John 
II.,  King  of  France,  a  prisoner  in  England  after  the 
Battle  of  Poictiers,  and  a  guest  at  a  tournament.  He 
looked  on  the  brilliant  scene  with  sorrowful  eyes,  and, 
when  urged  to  enjoy  the  splendour  of  the  pageant, 
answered  mournfully,  "  How  shall  we  sing  the  Lord's 
song  in  a  strange  land?"  (Ps.  cxxxvii.,  verse  4.)  So 
also  the  same  psalm  had  appealed  with  peculiar  force 
to  Luiz  de  Camoens,  the  epic  poet  of  Portugal.  In 
March  1553,  he  had  been  released  from  prison  on 
condition  that  he  sailed  for  India.  As  in  the  twilight 


CAMOENS  207 

the  ship  dropped  down  the  "golden-sanded"  Tagus, 
he  exclaimed,  like  Scipio  Africanus,  "Ungrateful 
country!  thou  shalt  not  possess  my  bones."  Even 
at  Goa  he  found  no  rest.  His  satires  on  the  vices 
of  the  inhabitants  caused,  it  is  said,  his  banishment 
to  Macao.  There  much  of  the  Lusiad  was  written ; 
there  also  he  made  a  modest  fortune.  Embarking  on 
board  ship,  he  set  sail  for  Goa.  But,  on  the  voyage, 
he  was  wrecked  off  the  Mekong  river,  on  the  coast  of 
Cochin  China.  All  that  he  had  was  lost;  he  had 
only  preserved  the  manuscript  of  his  poem,  when, 
friendless,  ruined,  and  alone,  he  landed  on  the  "gentle 
Mecon's  friendly  shore." 

"  Now  blest  with  all  the  wealth  fond  hope  could  crave, 
Soon  I  beheld  that  wealth  beneath  the  wave 
For  ever  lost ;  myself  escaped  alone, 
On  the  wild  shore,  all  friendless,  hopeless,  thrown ; 
My  life,  like  Judah's  heaven-doomed  King  of  yore, 
By  miracle  prolonged."  * 

A  s  he  sat  by  the  banks  of  the  Mekong,  waiting  for 
means  of  returning  to  Goa,  his  heart  by  the  Tagus, 
his  eyes  searching  the  ocean  for  a  sail,  he  wrote  the 
paraphrase  of  Psalm  cxxxvii.,  which  is  the  finest 
metrical  version  of  the  poem.  By  the  same  words 
Heine  was  inspired  to  begin  a  metrical  version  of  a 
psalm,  which,  in  another  mood,  he  parodied.  How 
often,  and  with  what  pathetic  force,  must  the  words 
of  the  exiles'  lament  have  appealed  to  the  Puritans 
in  New  England,  or  to  the  Huguenots  in  Canada! 
What  memories  of  silent  tragedies  must  they  have 
stirred  in  the  hearts  of  the  Covenanters,  toiling  among 
the  slaves  in  the  sugar  plantations  or  the  rice-fields  of 
the  West  Indies  and  America ! 

*  Lusiad,  Book  vii. 


208  THE  HUGUENOTS,  1600-1762 

This  digression  on  the  use  of  a  particular  psalm 
may  be  allowed,  in  view  of  its  peculiar  appropriateness 
to  the  lot  of  the  exiled  Huguenots.  But,  here,  Psalm 
cxxxvii.  was  referred  to  as  an  illustration  of  the  influ- 
ence of  the  Psalter  on  the  lives  of  leaders  in  the 
Eoman  reaction.  A  psalm  had  freed  St  Vincent  de 
Paul  to  labour  for  the  Catholic  faith  in  his  native  land. 
By  the  Psalms  was  inspired  the  life  of  St  Francois  de 
Sales,  Bishop  of  Geneva  (1567-1622). 

Few  men  have  been  more  widely  revered  for  the 
sanctity  of  their  characters  and  the  active  beauty  of 
their  careers.  To  some  he  is  most  widely  known  as 
the  friend  of  Madame  de  Chantal,  whom  he  placed 
over  his  Order  of  the  Visitation;  others  know  him 
best  from  the  reminiscences  which  Bishop  Camus 
gathered  in  his  Esprit  de  St  Franpois  de  Sales :  others 
revere  his  name  for  the  charm  which  he  gave  to 
personal  holiness.  Nobly-born,  brilliant  in  intellect, 
he  added  to  his  mental  and  spiritual  gifts  the  fascina- 
tion of  a  singularly  attractive  appearance.  From  his 
birth  near  Annecy,  among  the  beautiful  mountain 
scenery  of  Savoy,  his  mother,  whose  first  child  he  was, 
looked  upon  him  as  "lent  to  the  Lord,"  and,  at  an 
early  age,  the  bent  of  his  character  was  clearly  shown. 
His  mind  was  so  steeped  in  the  Psalter,  that  his 
thoughts  naturally  clothed  themselves  in  the  words  of 
the  Psalms.  The  rule  of  life  which  he  laid  down  for 
himself  in  his  twentieth  year,  is  founded  on  their 
language.  He  promises  to  hear  Mass  with  all  the 
earnestness  of  his  soul,  crying  out, ''  0  come  hither  and 
behold  the  works  of  the  Lord."  If  in  the  night  he 
wakes,  he  will  pray  the  Lord  to  "lighten  his  dark- 
ness " ;  he  "  will  water  his  couch  with  tears  "  for  his 
indifference  to  sin.  If  midnight  terrors  beset  him,  he 


FRANgOIS  DE  SALES  209 

will  remember  that  "He  that  keepeth  Israel  shall 
neither  slumber  nor  sleep  "  (Ps.  cxxi.,  verse  4),  and 
that  he  will  be  "safe  under  his  feathers"  (Ps. 
xci.,  verse  4).  "The  Lord  is  my  light  and  my 
salvation,  ...  of  whom,  then,  shall  I  be  afraid?" 
(Psalm  xxvii.,  verse  1). 

While  studying  law  at  Padua  in  1591,  he  was 
seized  with  rheumatic  fever.  His  life  was  despaired  of. 
Ready  for  death,  he  received  the  last  Sacrament,  and 
awaited  his  end  with  resignation,  repeating  such 
verses  as,  "O  how  amiable  are  Thy  dwellings, 
Thou  Lord  of  Hosts :  my  soul  hath  a  desire  and 
longing  to  enter  into  the  courts  of  the  Lord" 
(Ps.  Ixxxiv.,  verses  1,  2) ;  and  again,  "  The  Lord 
is  my  light  and  my  salvation ;  ...  of  whom,  then, 
shall  I  be  afraid  ? "  or  again,  "  Blessed  is  he  whose 
hope  is  in  the  Lord  his  God."  But  he  recovered,  and, 
two  years  later,  was  ordained,  sorely  against  the  will 
of  his  father,  who  desired  him,  as  his  eldest  son  and 
heir,  to  take  his  place  in  the  world.  His  life  at  Chablais 
as  a  missionary  among  the  Calvinists  (1593-1603),  or 
at  Geneva  as  the  administrator  of  a  diocese  (1603-22), 
was  a  psalm  in  action.  It  was  to  the  Psalms  that  in 
death  he  turned  for  the  expression  of  his  confidence 
and  hope. 

On  the  feast  of  St  John,  1622,  he  was  struck 
down  by  a  paralytic  seizure,  which  left  his  mind 
unclouded.  A  friendly  visitor  expressed  regret  at 
his  condition;  "Father,"  he  replied,  "I  am  waiting 
on  God's  mercy :  Expectans,  expectavi  Dominum  et 
intendit  mihi."  (I  waited  patiently  for  the  Lord, 
and  He  inclined  unto  me,  and  heard  my  calling, 
Ps.  xl.,  verse  1).  "  If  it  were  God's  will,  ye  would 
gladly  depart  now?"  continued  his  friend.  "If 

0 


210  THE  HUGUENOTS,  1600-1762 

God  wills  it,  I  will  it  too,"  answered  the  bishop : 
"now,  or  a  little  while  hence — what  matters  it?" 
As  other  friends  came  to  see  the  dying  man, 
the  words  of  the  Psalms  seemed  ever  on  his  lips. 
Often  he  was  heard  to  murmur :  "  My  soul  hath  a 
desire  and  longing  to  enter  into  the  courts  of  the  Lord : 
my  heart  and  my  flesh  rejoice  in  the  living  God" 
(Ps.  Ixxxiv.,  verse  2).  "My  song  shall  be  alway 
of  the  loving-kindness  of  the  Lord"  (Ps.  Ixxxix., 
verse  1).  "  When  I  am  in  heaviness,  I  will  think  upon 
God"  (Ps.  Ixxvii.,  verse  3).  "When  shall  I  come 
to  appear  before  the  presence  of  God?"  (Ps.  xlii., 
verse  2).  "  Did  he,"  asked  one  of  the  watchers  by  his 
bedside,  "  fear  the  last  struggle  ? "  "  Mine  eyes  are 
ever  looking  unto  the  Lord,  for  He  shall  pluck  my 
feet  out  of  the  net"  (Ps.  xxv.,  verse  14),  was  the 
reply.  He  died  in  the  evening  of  the  Holy  Innocents' 
Day,  1622. 

Men  like  St  Vincent  de  Paul,  or  St  Francois  de 
Sales,  had  turned  the  tide  of  religious  enthusiasm. 
It  was  now  on  the  side  of  Roman  Catholics. 
The  change  brought  into  clear  relief  the  position 
occupied  by  the  Huguenots,  who  formed  a  State 
within  a  State,  a  smaller  France  within  the  arms 
of  the  larger,  a  separate  people  protected  by 
fortified  cities,  organised  by  distinct  political  institu- 
tions, defended,  if  need  be,  by  its  own  armies, 
maintaining  its  own  ambassadors,  supported  by 
foreign  alliances.  The  strangeness  of  the  position 
was  further  illustrated  by  the  political  condition  of 
France  during  the  years  which  intervened  between 
the  death  of  Henry  IV.  and  the  ascendency  of 
Richelieu.  The  queen,  the  ministers,  the  princes  of 
the  blood,  the  nobility,  each  fought  for  their  own 


RICHELIEU'S  POLICY  211 

hand.  No  leader  and  no  party  espoused  any  great 
cause;  personal  ambitions  over-rode  public  policy; 
individual  interests  supplanted  patriotism.  The  Crown 
had  been  respected  ;  it  was  now  despised.  State 
affairs  had  been  guided  towards  definite  ends ;  now 
they  drifted  to  and  fro  in  confusion.  Favourites 
without  services,  ministers  without  ideas,  marshals 
without  armies,  successively  wielded  an  authority  of 
which  they  knew  not  the  use.  Before  many  years  had 
passed,  absolute  power  proved  the  only  cure  for 
anarchy ;  from  a  want  of  government,  France  passed 
to  its  excess.  For  the  next  few  years,  however,  two 
forces — the  nobility  and  the  Eeformed  churches — now 
allied,  now  divided,  opposed  the  Crown  and  convulsed 
the  country.  Internal  peace  and  external  strength 
seemed  to  be  lost  to  France,  till  Richelieu  had  restored 
and  aggrandised  the  power  of  the  monarchy.  Thus  the 
Reformed  churches  were  fighting  against  the  needs  and 
spirit  of  the  age.  In  the  sixteenth  century,  the  struggle 
for  religious  and  political  independence  was  not  in 
conflict  with  the  general  tendencies  of  a  period  which 
had  barely  emerged  from  feudal  chaos.  But  in  the 
seventeenth  century  they  were  contending  against  the 
new  force  of  centralisation.  They  fought  for  existence 
as  a  State  within  a  State,  when  the  State  itself  was  to 
be  merged  in  the  Crown  ;  for  liberty,  when  liberty  itself 
was  on  the  eve  of  extinction ;  for  walled  cities  of 
security,  when  feudal  castles  were  razed  to  the  ground 
on  every  side ;  for  municipal  independence,  when  all 
but  the  shadow  of  civic  freedom  was  approaching 
annihilation ;  for  representative  assemblies,  when  the 
voice  of  the  States-General  was  to  be  silenced  for  a 
century  and  a  half. 

In  the  character  of  the  religious  wars  of  the  seven- 


212  THE  HUGUENOTS,  1600-1762 

teenth  century  the  changed  conditions,  within  and 
without,  were  clearly  marked.  The  Psalms  had  not 
indeed  lost  their  power.  Henri  de  Rohan,  the  soul 
of  the  Protestant  cause  in  France,  still  relied  on  their 
support.  Threatened  with  assassination,  he  had  no 
fear,  for,  as  he  wrote  to  his  mother,  April  30th,  1628, 
"Whoso  dwelleth  under  the  defence  of  the  Most  High, 
shall  abide  under  the  shadow  of  the  Almighty  "  (Ps. 
xci.,  verse  1).  But  the  Huguenots  no  longer  counted 
allies  in  the  royal  family  :  the  nobility,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  Rohan  and  Soubise,  sided  with  the  Crown. 
The  Reformed  churches  had  ceased  to  move  as  one 
man  :  their  faith  was  chilled ;  their  religious  differences 
were  revealed;  they  disputed  the  policy  of  armed 
resistance.  North  of  the  Loire,  no  Protestant  stirred 
hand  or  foot.  The  struggle  was  confined  to  the 
Cevennes,  the  burghers  of  Rochelle,  and  the  cities  of 
the  south.  Even  in  the  latter  there  was  division,  for 
the  civic  aristocracy  dreaded  the  republican  teaching 
of  Huguenot  pastors.  The  three  short  wars  of  1621-2, 
1625-6,  and  1627-9,  were  wars  of  sieges,  within  a  con- 
tracted area:  pitched  battles  were  not,  as  in  the 
previous  century,  fought  in  every  part  of  the  country. 
With  two  of  those  sieges,  that  of  Montauban  in  1621, 
and  of  Rochelle  in  1627,  the  Psalms  are  associated. 

On  August  21st,  1621,  the  royal  army,  consisting 
of  20,000  men,  began  the  siege  of  Montauban,  on  the 
defence  of  which  Rohan  had  concentrated  all  his 
energies.  The  king  himself  was  in  the  camp :  the 
Due  de  Mayenne,  Luynes,  five  Marshals  of  France, 
and  a  crowd  of  the  most  distinguished  of  the  French 
nobility,  were  among  the  officers.  By  day,  on  the 
ramparts  of  the  Huguenot  stronghold,  men  and  women 
fought  side  by  side ;  by  night,  they  repaired  together 


LAST  SIEGE  OF  ROCHELLE  213 

the  breaches  made  by  the  cannonade  of  the  preceding 
day.  Six  weeks  passed.  Winter  was  approaching. 
The  royalists  made  no  progress ;  the  Due  de  Mayenne 
was  killed,  losses  in  officers  and  men  were  heavy,  and, 
at  the  end  of  September,  Rohan  threw  700  men  and 
a  convoy  of  provisions  into  the  town.  At  nightfall, 
on  October  17th,  a  Protestant  soldier,  serving  in  the 
king's  army,  played  under  the  battlements  of  the 
town  the  familiar  tune  of  Psalm  Ixviii.,  "Let  God 
arise,  and  let  his  enemies  be  scattered."  It  was  a 
signal  that  the  siege  was  raised.  The  next  day  the 
camp  was  struck,  and  the  royalists  retired. 

The  siege  of  Rochelle,  in  1627-8,  was  the  central 
point  of  interest  in  the  third  and  last  of  the  civil 
wars.  On  November  6th,  1627,  the  French  drove 
Buckingham  from  the  island  of  Rhe.  The  English 
fleet  sailed  away,  and  Richelieu  drew  round  the 
doomed  city  his  iron  girdle  of  famine.  Within  the 
walls  provisions  ran  short.  Every  unclean  animal 
was  eaten.  Bones,  parchment,  plaster,  leather  gloves, 
shoulder  belts,  and  saddles  were  devoured.  Then  the 
starving  people  fed  on  the  corpses  of  the  dead.  One 
woman  died  gnawing  her  own  arms.  As  the  siege 
progressed,  it  is  said  that  the  daily  death-roll  was  400. 
On  October  27th,  1628,  the  town  surrendered,  and 
with  its  fall  ended  both  the  war  and  the  independence 
of  the  Reformed  churches. 

During  the  blockade,  when  her  neighbours  were 
starving,  a  widow  named  Prosni  generously  supported 
many  of  the  poor  from  her  present  surplus.  Her 
sister-in-law,  Madame  de  la  Goute,  remonstrated  with 
her,  asking  what  she  would  do  when  her  store  was 
expended.  "  The  Lord  will  provide,"  was  her  reply. 
"  Behold,"  she  said,  "  the  eye  of  the  Lord  is  upon  them 


214  THE  HUGUENOTS,  1600-1762 

that  fear  Him,  and  upon  them  that  trust  in  His  mercy ; 
to  deliver  their  soul  from  death,  and  to  feed  them  in 
the  time  of  dearth"  (Ps.  xxxiii.,  verses  17,  18).  The 
siege  continued,  and  Madame  Prosni  with  her  four 
children  was  in  sore  straits.  Her  sister-in-law  taunted 
her  with  her  faith  and  its  fruits,  and  refused  all  help. 
In  her  dejection  she  returned  home,  resolving  that 
she  would  at  least  meet  death  with  patience.  At  the 
door  she  was  welcomed  by  her  children,  dancing  with 
joy.  A  stranger,  during  her  absence  had  knocked  at 
the  door,  and,  on  its  being  opened,  had  thrown  in  a 
sack  of  wheat  and  departed.  She  never  discovered 
the  name  of  her  benefactor,  whose  timely  aid  enabled 
her  to  support  herself  and  her  family  till  the  siege 
was  ended. 

The  Peace  of  Alais  (June  1629)  guaranteed  to  the 
Huguenots  a  full  measure  of  civil  equality,  as  well  as 
freedom  of  religious  exercises.  Had  the  spirit  of  the 
compact  been  observed,  it  might  have  healed  the 
breach.  But  the  triumph  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
reaction  was  too  complete.  The  extreme  men,  who 
assumed  the  lead,  demanded  uniformity  of  faith ; 
heresy,  both  within  and  without  the  Church,  was 
to  be  extinguished  ;  and  the  strife  was  renewed. 

In  the  general  reform  of  conventual  and  monastic 
life,  the  Abbey  of  Port  Royal  had  set  a  striking 
example.  Behind  its  cloistered  walls,  almost  within 
sight  and  hearing  of  Versailles  and  Paris,  yet  in  a 
valley  so  sequestered  as  to  terrify  Madame  de  Sevigne 
by  its  solitude,  were  gathered  some  of  the  purest  and 
most  devoted  women  of  France,  under  the  strict  rule  of 
Mere  Angelique  Arnauld.  The  spiritual  directions  of 
St  Francois  de  Sales,  who  loved  the  Port-Royalists, 
had  tempered  firmness  with  gentleness,  and  given  a 


PORT  ROYAL  AND  PASCAL  215 

charm  to  the  pursuit  of  personal  holiness  ;  the  Petites 
Ecoles  of  the  abbey  rivalled  the  educational  establish- 
ments of  the  Jesuits.  But  St  Cyran,  who  succeeded 
Francois  de  Sales  as  spiritual  director,  was  suspected 
of  heresy,  and  Port  Royal  was  involved  in  the  charge. 
Persecution  fell  upon  the  community.  It  was  to  a 
psalm  that  they  appealed.  "The  sisters  of  Port 
Royal,"  says  Blaise  Pascal  (and  his  own  sister  was 
one  of  the  first  victims  of  the  persecution),  "aston- 
ished to  hear  it  said  that  they  were  in  the  way  of 
perdition,  that  their  confessors  were  leading  them  to 
Geneva  by  teaching  them  that  Jesus  Christ  was  neither 
in  the  Eucharist  nor  at  the  right  hand  of  God,  and 
knowing  that  the  charge  was  false,  committed  them- 
selves to  God,  saying  with  the  Psalmist,  '  Look  well  if 
there  be  any  way  of  wickedness  in  me ' "  (Ps.  cxxxix., 
verse  24).  Mere  Angelique  died  August  6th,  1661, 
with  the  same  words  of  the  Psalms  upon  her  lips 
which  Xavier  had  used  at  the  end  of  his  toilsome 
career,  "  In  Thee,  O  Lord,  have  I  put  my  trust ;  let 
me  never  be  put  to  confusion"  (Ps.  xxxi.,  verse  1). 
Her  brother  Antoine,  an  exile,  or  in  hiding  for  fear  of 
the  Bastille,  had  learned  the  Psalms  by  heart  lest  his 
eyesight  should  grow  too  dim  to  read  them  daily. 
It  is  a  psalm  that  strikes  the  keynote  of  the  Pensees 
of  Pascal,  the  glory  and  the  champion  of  the  Port 
Koyal  community.  His  "Thoughts,"  in  which  the 
Psalms  are  repeatedly  quoted,  are  jotted  down,  with 
a  failing  hand,  on  loose  fragments  of  paper,  in  his  brief 
respites  from  the  agony  of  mortal  sickness.  They 
show  us  his  passionate  heart  in  the  midst  of  strife 
and  perplexity.  They  reveal,  with  the  unsparing 
severity  of  scientific  detachment,  the  depths  of  mystery 
that  surround  the  narrow  ledge  on  which  men  stand. 


216  THE  HUGUENOTS,  1600-1762 

Yet,  through  all  the  gloom  and  shadow,  there  ever 
burns  the  sacred  flame  of  personal  conviction,  that  in 
God,  and  in  God  alone,  is  light.  Reason  had,  he 
thought,  attained  its  highest  point  when  it  realised 
that  an  infinite  number  of  things  lie  beyond  its  reach. 
Men  ought  to  know  when  to  doubt,  when  to  be  certain, 
when  to  submit.  "Feel  no  surprise,"  he  says,  "that 
plain,  unlettered  men  believe  the  Christian  faith  with- 
out exercising  their  reason.  They  are  inspired  by  God 
with  a  love  of  holiness  and  a  hatred  of  themselves. 
God  inclines  their  hearts  to  faith.  If  God  does  not 
so  incline  the  heart,  no  man  will  believe  with  a  true, 
effectual  faith.  But  if  the  heart  be  so  inclined  by  God, 
none  can  refuse  belief.  Of  this  truth  David  was  well 
aware  when  he  wrote,  'Incline  my  heart  unto  Thy 
testimonies ' "  (Ps.  cxix.,  verse  36). 

Like  the  Port-Royalists,  Madame  Guyon  suffered 
persecution  from  the  leaders  of  the  Catholic  reaction. 
In  her  prison  at  Vincennes,  she  wrote  those  spiritual 
songs,  many  of  which  were  translated  into  English 
verse  by  William  Cowper.  Yet  into  whatever 
mazes  of  speculation  she  was  tempted,  her  own 
words,  expressed  in  the  language  of  the  Psalms, 
reveal  the  starting-point  of  her  spiritual  fancies, 
disclose  the  object  of  her  quietism,  and  justify  the 
defence  of  Fenelon.  She  learnt,  by  frequent  yield- 
ings  to  temptation,  her  entire  dependence  on  the 
Divine  aid.  "  I  became,"  she  says,  "  deeply  assured 
of  what  the  prophet  hath  said,  'Except  the  Lord 
keep  the  city,  the  watchman  waketh  but  in  vain ' 
(Ps.  cxxvii.,  verse  2).  When  I  looked  to  Thee,  O 
my  Lord,  Thou  wast  my  faithful  keeper;  Thou 
didst  continually  defend  my  heart  against  all  kinds 
of  enemies.  But,  alas !  when  left  to  myself,  I  was 


REVOCATION  OF  EDICT  OF  NANTES          217 

all  weakness.  How  easily  did  my  enemies  prevail 
over  me ! " 

When  slight  deviations  from  strict  orthodoxy  were 
punished  with  exile  or  imprisonment,  it  was  not  likely 
that  open  revolt  would  be  spared.  The  Treaty  of  Alais 
was  torn  up;  the  Edict  of  Nantes  revoked  (1685). 
Under  Louis  XIII.  and  Louis  XIV.  successive  edicts 
were  directed  against  the  Huguenots,  and  especially 
against  their  use  of  the  Psalter.  The  singing  of  psalms 
was  prohibited  in  streets  or  shops,  forbidden  in  private 
houses,  restricted  even  in  Protestant  temples.  As 
the  seventeenth  century  closed,  legislation  grew  more 
severe  under  the  austere  piety  of  Madame  de  Main- 
tenon  and  the  religious  zeal  of  Pere  la  Chaise.  Penal 
laws  banished  Protestant  pastors.  Death  was  the 
penalty  for  those  who  returned,  or  for  any  who 
sheltered  them :  possession  of  the  heretic's  property 
rewarded  those  who  betrayed  them.  Protestant 
meetings  were  proscribed  ;  possessors  of  a  Protestant 
Bible  or  Psalter  were  liable  to  imprisonment  and  con- 
fiscation. The  dragonnades  inflicted  untold  horrors. 
A  brutal  soldiery,  quartered  in  the  houses  of  the 
Huguenots,  was  encouraged  to  pillage,  torture,  and 
outrage.  Nor  were  the  victims  suffered  to  escape. 
Guards  were  doubled  on  the  frontiers,  and  the 
peasants  were  armed  to  assist  in  arresting  fugitives. 
But  the  Huguenot  buried  his  books  under  a  tree, 
hoped  for  better  times,  and  continued  his  psalmody 
in  cave  or  forest,  careless  that  the  sound  might  betray 
him  to  his  persecutors  or  consign  him  to  the  galleys. 

Even  among  the  Alps,  liberty  of  singing  psalms 
was  denied.  The  Protestants  of  the  Vaud  were 
driven  from  their  homes,  and  dispossessed  of  their 
property.  The  exiles.,  diminished  in  number  by  the 


218  THE  HUGUENOTS,  1600-1762 

hardships  of  a  winter  journey  across  the  Alps,  with 
voices  choked  by  exhaustion  and  misery,  sang  Psalm 
Ixxiv.  ("  O  God,  wherefore  art  Thou  absent  from  us  so 
long  ?  why  is  Thy  wrath  so  hot  against  the  sheep  of 
Thy  pasture  ? ")  as  they  streamed  into  Geneva,  and  the 
words  were  re-echoed  by  the  crowds  who  thronged 
the  streets  of  the  City  of  Refuge.  Three  years  later 
(1689),  it  was  the  same  psalm  which  was  chanted  in 
triumph  by  seven  hundred  of  the  exiles,  who,  led  by 
their  pastor,  Henri  Arnaud,  had  fought  their  way 
back  to  their  homes.  "  The  gallant  patriots  took  an 
oath  of  fidelity  to  each  other,  and  celebrated  Divine 
service  in  one  of  their  own  churches  for  the  first 
time  since  their  banishment.  The  enthusiasm  of  the 
moment  was  inexpressible :  they  chanted  the  74th 
Psalm  to  the  clash  of  arms,  and  Henri  Arnaud, 
mounting  the  pulpit  with  a  sword  in  one  hand  and  a 
Bible  in  the  other,  preached  from  the  129th  Psalm, 
and  once  more  declared  in  the  face  of  heaven,  that 
he  would  never  resume  his  pastoral  office  in  patience 
and  peace,  until  he  should  witness  the  restoration  of 
his  brethren  to  their  ancient  and  rightful  settle- 
ments." 

On  the  22nd  of  October  1685,  Michel  le  Tellier, 
as  Chancellor  of  France,  set  the  seal,  almost  with  his 
dying  hand,  to  the  Eevocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes. 
The  towns  and  villages  and  houses  of  the  Protestants 
were  pillaged  and  set  on  fire ;  their  fields  and  vine- 
yards were  laid  waste ;  they  were  burned  alive,  broken 
on  the  wheel,  hung  from  the  gibbet,  or  cut  to  pieces 
by  the  dragoons.  Their  midnight  assemblies  were 
again  and  again  surprised,  and  the  most  venerated  of 
their  pastors  were  executed.  The  victims  who  died 
by  sudden  death  were  to  be  envied.  More  terrible 


RISING  IN  THE  CEVENNES  219 

still  was  the  fate  of  the  men  who  were  chained  to  the 
oar  at  the  galleys  under  the  lash  of  barbarous  officers,  or 
of  the  women  who  were  doomed  to  perpetual  imprison- 
ment in  the  loathsome  dens  of  mediaeval  cruelty,  such 
as  the  Tour  Constance  in  the  Castle  of  Aigues  Mortes, 
where  the  prisoners,  herded  together  in  dark  and 
stifling  dungeons,  were  left  a  prey  to  the  melancholy 
thoughts  that  harmonised  with  the  monotonous 
cadence  of  the  waves,  or  the  wind  moaning  over  the 
marshes. 

Among  the  rocky  savage  fastnesses  oi  the 
Cevennes,  the  simple  religion  of  the  Protestant  moun- 
taineers assumed  a  stern  and  gloomy  cast.  Fervour 
easily  passed  into  fanaticism,  and  ecstasies  of  faith 
readily  lent  themselves  to  self-deception.  The  enfants 
de  Dieu,  possessed  by  hysterical  hallucinations,  claimed 
for  their  wild  words  a  prophetic  inspiration.  Goaded 
to  desperation  by  their  sufferings,  seeing  at  every  cross- 
road the  corpses  of  friends  swinging  in  the  air,  the 
peasants  were  carried  away  by  the  fiery  appeals  of 
prophets  and  prophetesses,  who  urged  them  to  arm 
against  the  enemies  of  God,  and  fight  to  the  death  for 
the  true  Church.  Upon  their  excited  minds  the  Psalms 
exercised  an  almost  supernatural  power.  "  As  soon," 
says  Durand  Fage,  "  as  we  began  to  sing  the  chant  of 
the  Divine  Canticles,  we  felt  within  us  a  consuming 
fire,  an  ecstatic  desire  which  no  words  can  express. 
However  great  our  fatigue,  we  thought  of  it  no  more. 
The  moment  the  chant  of  the  Psalms  struck  our  ears, 
we  grew  light  as  air." 

With  such  temperaments,  it  needed  but  a  spark  to 
kindle  the  smouldering  fury  of  the  people  into  a  flame 
which  should  spread  through  the  mountains  with  the 
devastating  rapidity  of  lightning.  That  spark  was 


220  THE  HUGUENOTS,  1600-1762 

lighted  by  Francois  du  Chayla,  Prior  of  Laval,  and 
Inspector  of  Protestant  Missions  in  the  district  of 
Gevaudan. 

This  man  was  the  chief  agent  in  the  persecution  of 
the  Protestants  of  the  Cevennes.  His  house  at  Pont 
de  Montvert,  close  to  the  bridge  over  the  Tarn,  was  at 
once  a  prison  and  a  torture-chamber,  in  which  neither 
sex  nor  age  was  spared,  and  where  children  and  young 
girls  received  no  mercy.  In  1702  the  Abbe  du  Chayla 
held  as  prisoners  a  number  of  Protestants  who  had 
been  captured  in  an  attempted  escape  to  Geneva.  On 
the  evening  of  July  23rd,  1702,  a  party  of  resolute 
men,  numbering  fifty  in  all,  goaded  by  the  appeals  of 
their  prophets,  determined  to  rescue  the  prisoners. 
As  night  fell,  they  met  under  three  gigantic  beeches  on 
the  slope  of  the  mountain  of  Bouges,  called  in  the 
patois  of  the  country  "  Alte  fage."  Some  were  armed 
with  swords,  some  with  scythes,  some  with  halberds 
of  ancient  make ;  only  a  few  carried  guns  or  pistols. 
Before  they  set  out  on  their  enterprise,  they  prayed 
together,  and  then,  chanting  the  Psalms  of  Marot  as 
they  went,  marched  on  Pont  de  Montvert.  They 
reached  the  village  about  nine  in  the  evening,  and, 
still  singing  the  Psalms,  surrounded  the  house  of  the 
abbe. 

The  abbe  was  dining  in  company  with  his  fellow- 
labourers,  when  the  rude  chant  of  the  Psalms  reached 
his  ears.  Supposing  that  the  Protestants  had  ventured 
to  hold  a  conventicle  within  earshot  of  his  house,  he 
ordered  his  guard  to  seize  the  rash  worshippers.  But 
the  house  was  surrounded  so  that  none  could  pass  out. 
On  all  sides  the  cry  was  heard,  "Bring  out  the 
prisoners."  The  abbe,  a  determined  man,  showed 
that  he  would  yield  only  to  force.  At  his  command 


THE  ABBE  DU  CHAYLA  221 

the  soldiers  fired  upon  his  assailants,  and  one  of  the 
prophets  was  killed  and  others  of  the  party  wounded. 
The  infuriated  Protestants,  seizing  the  trunk  of  a  tree, 
beat  down  the  door,  swarmed  into  the  house,  and 
rushed  to  the  dungeons.  A  second  discharge  proved 
fatal  to  another  of  the  rescuing  party.  Exasperated 
by  the  sight  of  their  tortured  brethren,  and  provoked 
by  resistance,  the  CeVenols  piled  together  the  furniture 
of  the  house,  raked  up  the  straw  on  which  the  soldiers 
slept,  threw  on  the  heap  the  seats  from  the  chapel,  and 
set  the  building  on  fire.  Then  the  abbe  and  his  friends 
endeavoured  to  escape  from  the  windows  at  the  back 
of  the  house.  Tying  the  sheets  of  their  bedding 
together,  they  attempted  to  reach  the  garden.  The 
abbe*  fell  and  broke  his  thigh,  but,  crawling  into  the 
bushes,  hid  himself.  Others,  more  fortunate,  came  to 
the  ground  safely,  and,  plunging  into  the  Tarn,  escaped. 
As  the  fire  gathered  fierceness  and  caught  hold  of 
the  timber  of  the  house,  the  glare  of  the  flames  revealed 
the  lurking-place  of  the  abbe.  His  cry  for  mercy  was 
mocked.  Dragged  into  the  open,  he  was  killed.  Each 
successive  assailant  as  he  delivered  his  blow,  cried  out 
that  it  was  in  vengeance.  "  Take  that,"  cried  one,  "  for 
my  father's  sake,  whom  you  broke  on  the  wheel." 
"Take  that,"  cried  another,"  for  my  brother,  whom 
you  sent  to  the  galleys."  "  And  that,"  shouted  a  third, 
"for  my  mother,  whom  you  killed  with  grief."  Fifty- 
two  wounds  were  found  on  his  body,  of  which  twenty- 
five  were  mortal.  Only  two  persons  discovered  in  the 
house  were  spared.  All  the  livelong  night,  amid  the 
crash  of  falling  timbers,  and  the  roar  and  hiss  of  flames, 
which  drowned  the  murmur  of  the  Tarn,  the  deliverers 
chanted  their  psalms  in  wild  ecstasy  of  vengeance,  and 
as  the  day  dawned,  it  was  with  a  psalm  of  triumph 


222  THE  HUGUENOTS,  1600-1762 

that  they  withdrew  with  their  rescued  brethren  to 
their  mountain  fastnesses. 

With  this  ferocious  act  of  vengeance  began  the  war 
of  the  Cevennes,  in  which,  with  the  Psalms  for  their 
battle-cry,  a  handful  of  peasants  defied  the  armies  of 
Louis  XIV.,  defeated  his  most  skilful  marshals,  and 
negotiated  on  equal  terms  with  the  Grand  Monarque 
himself. 

On  Sunday,  December  24th,  1702,  Jean  Cavalier 
had  assembled  eighty  of  his  followers  for  worship  on 
Christmas  Eve.  The  service  had  barely  begun,  when 
his  sentinels,  posted  on  the  hills,  gave  the  alarm.  The 
commandant  of  Alais,  with  six  hundred  foot-soldiers 
and  fifty  mounted  gentry,  was  upon  them.  It  was  with 
a  psalm  that  the  Camisards  attacked  their  assailants, 
routed  them,  and  pursued  the  fugitives  up  to  the  gates 
of  Alais. 

Four  months  later,  April  1703,  Cavalier  and  his 
band  bivouacked  in  a  deserted  farm-house  called 
Bellot,  near  Alais.  Built  on  the  ruins  of  a  feudal 
castle,  the  house  was  surmounted  by  a  tower,  and  sur- 
rounded by  a  wall  and  deep  ditch.  At  midnight  a 
traitor  led  the  soldiers  to  the  spot.  Four  thousand 
royalists  surprised  four  hundred  sleeping  Camisards. 
Cavalier  escaped  along  the  moat,  and,  after  a  vain 
attempt  to  rescue  those  who  were  hemmed  in  within 
the  enclosure,  drew  off  a  portion  of  his  men  under  the 
cover  of  darkness.  From  midnight  till  eight  the  next 
morning  the  defenders  of  Bellot  held  their  own.  Their 
ammunition  was  spent ;  but,  refusing  to  yield,  they 
perished  to  a  man  in  the  blazing  ruins,  still  raising 
with  their  latest  breath  the  words  of  their  beloved 
psalms. 

The  Psalms  were    again  the  battle-cry  of  the 


CAVALIER  AND  ROLAND  223 

Huguenots  at  Les  Devois  de  Martignargues,  where,  in 
March  1704,  Cavalier  won  a  brilliant  victory.  The  roy- 
alist general,  La  Jonquiere,  with  a  considerable  number 
of  foot-soldiers,  dragoons,  and  grenadiers,  had  pursued 
the  Camisards  from  Moussac  to  Brignon,  and  thence 
higher  up  the  mountains  to  the  bleak  uninhabited 
spot  which  was  the  final  scene  of  the  conflict.  There 
Cavalier  determined  to  make  his  stand.  After  praying 
with  his  men,  he  took  up  a  strong  position,  posting  an 
ambuscade  to  his  left  and  right.  La  Jonquiere  led  his 
men  to  the  attack.  The  Camisards  lay  down  till  the 
royalists  had  discharged  their  pieces.  Then,  springing 
to  their  feet,  and  thundering  out  the  Psalms,  they 
charged  the  enemy,  while  at  the  same  moment  the 
men  in  ambush  attacked  on  both  flanks.  The  royalists 
broke  and  fled,  the  victorious  Camisards  in  hot  and 
merciless  pursuit. 

It  was  with  the  Psalms  that  Eoland,  another  of 
the  Camisard  leaders,  routed  the  royalists  at  the 
Bridge  of  Salindres,  in  the  spring  of  1709.  In  pursuit 
of  Cavalier,  the  Marquis  de  Lalande,  one  of  the 
greatest  coxcombs  of  the  day,  but  an  experienced 
soldier,  had  reached  Anduze.  There  two  peasants 
were  introduced  into  his  presence  to  tell  him  that 
Roland  was  about  to  seize  the  Bridge  of  Salindres, 
over  the  river  Gardon.  The  men  were  in  truth 
emissaries  of  the  Camisard  chief.  Lalande  fell  into 
the  trap.  Acting  on  their  information,  he  determined 
to  seize  the  Bridge.  To  reach  it,  he  had  to  penetrate 
a  narrow,  winding  pass.  On  one  side  rose  bare  pre- 
cipitous cliffs ;  on  the  other  ran  a  deep  ravine,  at 
the  bottom  of  which  seethed  the  mountain  torrent  of 
the  Gardon.  At  the  entrance  of  the  gorge,  Roland 
had  concealed  a  body  of  his  troops;  on  the  rocks 


224  THE  HUGUENOTS,  1600-1762 

above,  he  had  stationed  another  band ;  he  himself, 
with  a  third  company,  held  the  Bridge  of  Salindres. 
Lalande,  suspecting  nothing,  entered  the  ravine. 
When  he  had  entangled  himself  in  its  narrow  wind- 
ings, a  signal  was  given,  and  he  found  himself  attacked 
in  front  and  rear,  while  enormous  rocks,  hurled  from 
the  cliffs  above,  swept  his  men  by  files  at  a  time  into 
the  river.  Above  the  rattle  of  the  musketry,  the 
crash  of  the  falling  rocks,  and  the  confused  cries  of 
the  soldiers,  was  heard  the  triumphant  psalm  of  the 
Camisards.  The  whole  army  seemed  doomed  to 
perish.  One  path  alone  had  not  been  occupied  by 
the  mountaineers ;  it  descended  the  side  of  the  ravine, 
and  crossed  the  Gardon  by  a  mill-dam.  Down  this 
path  of  safety  rushed  Lalande  with  a  few  of  his 
followers,  so  hotly  pursued  that  he  left  his  plumed 
hat  behind  him,  and  escaped  with  his  wig  in  flames. 
As  evening  fell,  the  din  of  battle  ceased.  In  the 
quiet  valley,  whose  silence  was  only  broken  by  the 
roar  of  the  Gardon,  rose  the  48th  Psalm : 

"  Dieu  aux  palais  d'elle  est  cognu 
Et  pour  sa  defense  term,"  etc. 

As  the  unequal  war  dragged  on, — as,  time  after 
time,  at  unequal  odds,  the  king's  troops  were  defeated, 
— as  the  mountaineers  held  their  own  against  trained 
soldiers  and  experienced  generals,  they  grew  strong 
in  the  conviction  that  God  was  on !  their  side.  "  Our 
enemy,"  says  Mazel,  one  of  the  Camisard  historians, 
"  were  as  the  sand  on  the  seashore  in  number,  and 
we  were  but  a  little  company.  They  had  horses,  and 
chariots,  and  gold,  and  weapons,  and  castles.  "We 
had  no  such  aid,  but  the  Lord  God  of  Hosts  was  our 
strength." 


LOUIS  RANG  225 

The  same  serene  confidence  which  had  nerved  the 
arms  of  the  Camisards,  inspired  the  quiet  heroism  of 
the  Protestant  "Pastors  of  the  Desert,"  who,  in  the 
first  half  of  the  eighteenth  century,  braved  danger  and 
death  to  carry  on  their  proscribed  ministrations.  In 
the  long  list  of  executions,  there  are  but  few  victims 
who  were  not  sustained  in  their  last  hours  by  the 
words  of  the  Psalms. 

In  1745,  Louis  Rang,  the  brother  of  a  minister  who 
only  saved  himself  from  the  scaffold  by  flight,  a  young 
man  of  twenty-five  years  of  age,  and  himself  a  minister 
of  the  Protestant  religion,  was  arrested  at  Livron. 
He  was  thrown  into  prison  at  Valence,  and  condemned 
to  die  at  Grenoble,  March  2nd,  1745.  In  vain  the 
President  of  the  Court  had  offered  him  his  life  if  he 
would  abjure  his  faith.  He  rejected  all  offers.  His 
sentence  was  that  he  should  be  hung  in  the  market 
place  at  Die,  and  that  his  head  should  be  severed 
from  his  body  and  exposed  on  a  gibbet  opposite  the 
little  inn  at  Livron,  where  he  had  been  arrested.  On 
his  way  to  the  scaffold,  he  sang  verse  24  of  Psalm 
cxviii. : 

"  La  voici  1'heureuse  journee 
Qui  repond  a  notre  desir ; 
Louons  Dieu,  qui  nous  1'a  donnee ; 
Faisons  en  tout  notre  plaisir." 

His  voice  was  drowned  by  the  roll  of  drums. 
With  his  eyes  raised  to  heaven,  he  reached  the  foot  of 
the  scaffold,  fell  on  his  knees  in  prayer,  then  mounted 
the  ladder  and  met  his  death. 

A  few  weeks  later,  Jacques  Roger,  a  venerable 
man  of  seventy  years  of  age,  forty  of  which  he  had 
spent  as  a  Protestant  pastor,  was  betrayed  to  the 
government  and  arrested.  Ordained  at  Wtirtemburg, 

P 


226  THE  HUGUENOTS,  1600-1762 

and  therefore  one  of  the  few  regularly  ordained 
ministers,  he  had  braved  the  law  which  made  it  a 
capital  offence  to  return  to  France.  For  forty  years 
he  had  escaped,  often  by  a  hair's  breadth,  the  pursuit 
of  the  soldiers,  who  had  tracked  him  like  a  wild  beast. 
The  officer  in  command  asked  him  who  he  was.  "  I 
am  he,"  he  replied,  "  whom  you  have  sought  for  thirty- 
nine  years;  it  was  time  that  you  should  find  me." 
Condemned  to  death  at  Grenoble,  he  spent  his  last 
hours  in  encouraging  some  Protestant  prisoners  to  be 
true  to  their  faith.  When  the  executioner  and  his 
assistants  arrived  to  take  him  to  the  place  of  execu- 
tion, he  received  the  summons  cheerfully,  quoting  the 
same  verse  which  Louis  E-ang  had  sung  on  the  scaffold 
(Ps.  cxviii.,  verse  24).  From  prison  he  went  to  his 
death  chanting  Psalm  li. 

The  same  Psalm  (li.)  was  sung,  on  his  way  to 
execution,  by  Francois  Benezet,  a  young  man  who 
was  studying  for  Holy  Orders.  He  was  executed  in 
January  1752,  on  the  esplanade  at  Montpellier.  His 
youth,  his  courage,  and  the  fact  that  he  left  a  widow 
and  child,  created  a  profound  impression  among  his 
co-religionists.  His  fate  is  commemorated  in  one  of 
the  rude  songs  which,  through  their  uncouth  stanzas, 
breathe  the  fervent  piety  and  indomitable  resolution  of 
the  Protestants. 

The  last  of  the  martyred  pastors  of  the  desert, 
was  Francois  E/ochette,  who,  in  1760,  had  been  con- 
secrated pastor  at  the  provincial  synod  of  Haut 
Languedoc.  In  the  district  of  Quercy  he  spent 
some  laborious  months,  preaching,  administering 
the  Communion,  visiting  the  sick,  teaching  the 
young,  celebrating  marriages,  baptisms,  and  funerals, 
for  the  twenty-five  Reformed  churches  which  fell  to 


FRANCOIS  ROCHETTE  227 

his  charge.  His  health  being  injured  by  his  incessant 
labours,  he  left  Montauban,  in  September  1761,  to 
drink  the  waters  at  Saint  Antonin.  On  his  way 
through  Caussade,  he  was  asked  to  baptise  a 
child.  It  was  midnight,  and,  not  knowing  his 
way,  he  sent  his  guides  into  the  town  to  find  a 
native  of  the  place  who  would  take  him  to  the  house 
where  his  services  were  required.  As  the  guides 
were  returning  to  the  pastor,  they  endeavoured  to 
evade  observation  by  leaving  the  main  road.  Some 
passers-by,  catching  sight  of  them,  mistook  them  for 
robbers  who  infested  the  neighbourhood,  and  sent  the 
town-guard  in  pursuit  of  them.  They  were  seized  by 
the  patrol,  and  with  them  Rochette.  Taken  before  the 
magistrates,  Eochette  boldly  avowed  his  calling,  and 
was  committed  to  prison. 

The  excitable  populace  of  the  South  were  aroused. 
Believing  that  a  plot  was  on  foot  among  the  Protes- 
tants to  pillage  the  town,  they  rang  the  tocsin,  donned 
the  white  cockades  of  St  Bartholomew's  Day,  and 
attacked  the  heretics.  The  Protestants,  on  their  side, 
armed  themselves,  and  a  bloody  conflict  seemed  im- 
minent. Though  the  outbreak  was  prevented,  the 
affair  sealed  the  fate  of  Rochette  and  his  companions. 
Petitions  were  presented  to  the  Due  de  Richelieu,  and 
to  Marie  Adelaide,  Princess  of  France,  the  daughter 
of  Louis  XV.,  who  had  shown  herself  inclined  to 
mercy.  All  was  in  vain.  Rochette  was  tried  at 
Toulouse  in  November  1761 ;  in  the  following  February 
the  sentence  of  death  was  pronounced.  He  was  offered 
his  life  if  he  would  abjure  his  faith.  He  refused,  and, 
on  February  20th,  1762,  the  sentence  was  executed. 
To  the  last,  Rochette  encouraged  his  companions. 
Through  the  crowded  streets,  thronged  with  spectators, 


228  THE  HUGUENOTS,  1600-1762 

the  car  was  drawn  to  the  place  of  execution  in  the 
Place  du  Salin.  Rochette  mounted  the  scaffold  with 
a  firm  step,  chanting  as  he  went,  "  La  voici  1'heureuse 
journee,"  etc.  (Ps.  cxviii.,  verse  24). 

It  was  fitting  that  the  last  words  of  the  last  Pro- 
testant martyr  should  be  taken  from  that  Book  of 
Psalms  which,  through  two  centuries  of  conflict  and 
persecution,  had  meant  so  much  to  the  Huguenots. 
"It  was,"  said  Florimond  de  Remond,  "the  Book  of 
Psalms  which  fostered  the  austere  morals  of  the 
Huguenots,  and  cultivated  those  masculine  virtues 
that  made  them  the  pick  of  the  nation.  It  was  that 
book  which  supported  fainting  courage,  uplifted  down- 
cast souls,  inspired  heroic  devotion.  Their  affirmations 
were  certes  or  en  write ;  they  were  enemies  of  luxury 
and  worldly  follies ;  they  loved  the  Bible  or  the  singing 
of  spiritual  songs  and  psalms  better  than  dances  and 
hautboys.  Their  women'  wore  sober  colours,  and 
in  public  appeared  as  mourning  Eves  or  penitent 
Magdalens ;  their  men,  habitually  denying  themselves, 
seemed  struck  by  the  Holy  Spirit."  Nor  was  it  only 
their  virtues  which  the  Psalms  had  fostered.  From 
the  same  book  they  justified  their  ferocity.  To  them 
Rome  was  Babylon,  and  the  Reformed  Church  was 
Sion.  Their  enemies  were  God's  enemies.  They 
were  His  appointed  instruments  of  vengeance,  and 
they  made  war  in  the  spirit  of  Calvin's  commentary 
on  Psalm  cxxxvii.,  verses  8,  9,  and  of  his  defence  of 
its  imprecations  on  the  women  and  children  of  their 
foes. 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE   PURITANS,    1600-1660 

The  Pilgrim  Fathers  and  Benjamin  Franklin :  the  Psalms  among 
the  royalists — Jeremy  Taylor,  Bishop  Sanderson,  Stratford,  and 
Laud :  the  Civil  War— Marston  Moor,  John  Hampden,  Charles 
I.  at  Newark :  Puritanism  as  a  poetical,  religious,  and  political 
force  in  Milton,  Bunyan,  and  Cromwell. 

To  the  Puritans  of  the  seventeenth  century,  the  Psalter 
was  the  book  of  books.  Psalms  were  sung  at  Lord 
Mayor's  feasts,  at  City  banquets.  If  the  clown  in  the 
"  Winter's  Tale  "  (Act  iv.,  sc.  2)  be  accepted  as  a  wit- 
ness, they  were  sung  to  "  hornpipes  "  at  rustic  festivals. 
Soldiers  sang  them  on  the  march,  by  the  camp  fire,  on 
parade,  in  the  storm  of  battle.  The  ploughman 
carolled  them  over  his  furrow;  the  carter  hummed 
them  by  the  side  of  his  waggon.  They  were  the  song- 
book  of  ladies  and  their  lovers,  and,  under  the 
Commonwealth,  the  strains  of  the  Psalms  floated 
from  windows  in  every  street  of  Puritan  strong- 
holds. 

To  gain  liberty  of  worship  and  of  psalm-singing, 
men  and  women  crossed  the  seas,  seeking  in  the  New 
World  the  freedom  that  was  denied  them  in  the  Old. 
With  this  object  the  little  congregation  of  Separatists, 
which  gathered  at  Scrooby  in  Nottinghamshire,  made 
their  way  in  1608  to  the  East  coast,  and  thence  to  the 

229 


230  THE  PURITANS,  1600-1660 

Low  Countries.  For  twelve  years  they  made  the 
"  goodly  and  pleasant  city  "  of  Leyden  their  "  resting- 
place."  But  in  July  1620,  the  Speedwell,  a  vessel  of 
sixty  tons  burden,  lay  at  Delft  Haven  equipped  for 
their  transport  to  the  New  World.  "When,"  says 
Winslow,  "  the  ship  was  ready  to  carry  us  away,  the 
brethren  that  stayed  having  again  solemnly  sought  the 
Lord  with  us  and  for  us,  they  that  stayed  at  Leyden 
feasted  us  that  were  to  go,  at  our  pastor's  house,  being 
large,  where  we  refreshed  ourselves,  after  tears,  with 
singing  of  psalms,  making  joyful  melody  in  our  hearts  as 
well  as  with  the  voice,  there  being  many  of  the  congre- 
gation very  expert  in  music.  And  indeed  it  was 
the  sweetest  melody  that  ever  mine  ears  heard." 

To  the  singing  of  psalms  the  sails  of  the  Mayflower 
were  set  to  catch  the  winds  that  wafted  the  Pilgrim 
Fathers  to  the  white  sandbanks  of  Cape  Cod ;  to  their 
music  were  laid  the  foundations  of  the  United  States 
of  America.  "  At  Salem  is  his  tabernacle  "  (Ps.  Ixxvi., 
verse  2),  were  the  words  which  suggested  to  John 
Endicott's  company  the  name  of  their  first  settlement. 
The  denial  of  the  liberty  of  "  singing  psalms  and  pray- 
ing without  a  book,"  drove  Francis  Higginson,  the 
first  appointed  teacher  at  Salem,  to  exchange  the  Old 
World  for  the  New.  At  the  Sabbath  services,  both  in 
Salem  and  in  Plymouth,  the  Psalms  were  sung  with- 
out music,  from  the  version  of  Henry  Ainsworth  of 
Amsterdam.  But  it  was  not  long  before  the  Puritan 
divines  had  prepared  their  own  version,  and  the  third 
book  printed  in  America  was  the  Bay  Psalm  Book 
(1639-40).  Till  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century, 
the  Psalms  were  exclusively  sung  in  the  churches  and 
chapels  of  America.  In  the  language  of  the  Psalms 
the  early  progress  of  the  first  colony  is  recorded. 


BENJAMIN  FRANKLIN  231 

"The  Lord,"  says  Johnson  in  his  Wonder- Working 
Providence,  "  whose  promises  are  large  to  His  Sion, 
hath  blest  His  people's  provision,  and  satisfied  her 
poor  with  bread,  in  a  very  little  space."  The  Psalms 
were  the  chief  instrument  of  Eliot  in  his  missionary 
enterprises  among  the  Red  Indians.  From  the 
Psalms,  Eliot's  successor,  David  Brainerd,  drew  the 
language  hi  which  he  clothed  his  daily  thoughts. 
In  versifying  the  Psalms,  the  early  poets  of  the 
young  Republic,  such  as  Barlow,  D wight,  or  Bryant, 
exercised  their  powers.  In  the  same  task,  Cotton 
Mather  had  previously  found  respite  from  his  dark 
musings  on  the  mysteries  of  the  unseen  world.  In 
the  Psalms  was  laid  the  coping-stone  of  American 
independence.  In  1787,  it  was  to  the  1st  verse  of 
Psalm  cxxvii.  that  Benjamin  Franklin  appealed, 
when  speaking  before  the  Convention  assembled  to 
frame  a  Constitution  for  the  United  States  of 
America : — 

"  In  the  beginning  of  the  contest  with  Britain, 
when  we  were  sensible  of  danger,  we  had  daily 
prayers  in  this  room  for  the  Divine  protection.  Our 
prayers,  Sir,  were  heard,  and  they  were  graciously 
answered.  All  of  us  who  were  engaged  in  the  struggle 
must  have  observed  frequent  instances  of  a  superin- 
tending Providence.  To  that  kind  Providence  we  owe 
this  opportunity  of  consulting  in  peace  on  the  means 
of  establishing  our  future  national  felicity.  And  have 
we  now  forgotten  this  powerful  Friend?  or  do  we 
imagine  that  we  no  longer  need  His  assistance?  I 
have  lived  for  a  long  time  (81  years),  and  the  longer 
I  live  the  more  convincing  proof  I  see  of  this  truth, 
that  God  governs  in  the  affairs  of  men.  And  if  a 
sparrow  cannot  fall  to  the  ground  without  His  notice, 


232  THE  PURITANS,  1600-1660 

is  it  probable  that  an  empire  can  rise  without  His  aid  ? 
We  have  been  assured,  Sir,  in  the  sacred  writings, 
that  '  Except  the  Lord  build  the  house,  they  labour  in 
vain  that  build  it/  I  firmly  believe  this,  and  I  also 
believe  that  without  His  concurring  aid  we  shall  pro- 
ceed in  this  political  building  no  better  than  the 
builders  of  Babel.  I  therefore  beg  leave  to  move 
that,  henceforth,  prayers,  imploring  the  assistance  of 
Heaven  and  its  blessing  on  our  deliberations,  be  held 
in  this  assembly  every  morning  before  we  proceed  to 
business,  and  that  one  or  more  of  the  clergy  of  this 
city  be  requested  to  officiate  in  that  service." 

In  the  spirit  of  the  Psalms,  as  they  interpreted 
them,  the  brethren  of  the  Pilgrim  Fathers,  the  Puritans 
who  remained  behind  in  England,  fought  out  their 
quarrel  with  Charles  I.  But  the  Psalter  was  not  the 
peculiar  property  of  the  Parliamentary  party.  Charles 
I.  himself  caused  his  father's  version  of  the  Psalms 
to  be  printed.  From  Psalm  Ixxxii.,  verse  1  ("God 
standeth  in  the  congregation  of  princes ;  He  is  a  Judge 
among  gods  "),  Bishop  Andrewes  had  silently  protested 
against  the  intrusion  of  churchmen  into  secular  affairs. 
From  another  Psalm  (Psalm  lx.,  verse  2,  "  Thou  hast 
moved  the  land,  and  divided  it :  heal  the  sores  thereof, 
for  it  shaketh"),  Bishop  Hall  appealed  for  peace, 
in  the  Lent  sermon  which  he  preached  in  1641  before 
Charles  I.  at  Whitehall.  To  Anglican  divines,  as 
well  as  to  Puritan  preachers,  the  Psalter  was  as 
uthe  balm  of  Gilead."  Jeremy  Taylor  (1613-67), 
who  acted  as  chaplain  in  the  army  of  Charles  I., 
suffered  both  in  person  and  in  purse  for  his  loyalty  to 
Church  and  King.  Of  "  liberty  of  prophesying  "  he 
was  an  assailant,  of  the  Church's  Liturgy  a  champion. 
But,  in  the  midst  of  his  persecution  and  troubles,  it 


JEREMY  TAYLOR  233 

is  in  the  Psalms  that  he  finds  consolation:  "  When  I 
came,"  he  writes,  "to  look  upon  the  Psalter  with  a 
nearer  observation,  ...  I  found  so  many  admirable 
promises,  so  rare  variety  of  the  expressions  of  the 
mercy  of  God,  so  many  consolatory  hymns,  the  com- 
memoration of  so  many  deliverances  from  dangers  and 
deaths  and  enemies,  so  many  miracles  of  mercy  and 
salvation,  that  I  began  to  be  so  confident  as  to  believe 
there  would  come  no  affliction  great  enough  to  spend 
so  great  a  stock  of  comfort  as  was  laid  up  in  the 
treasury  of  the  Psalter."  In  the  Rule  and  Exercises  of 
Holy  Living  and  of  Holy  Dying,  he  teaches  from  experi- 
ence. His  gorgeous,  richly-tinted  prose  differs  abso- 
lutely from  the  homely  English  of  Bunyan.  It  winds 
its  devious  way  along  like  some  Roman  triumph,  laden 
with  the  captives  and  the  spoils  of  other  languages  and 
literatures.  Yet,  when  Taylor  comes  to  the  practical 
aids  of  holy  life  or  death,  it  is  on  the  Psalms  that  he 
almost  exclusively  relies.  From  the  Psalter  are  drawn 
his  prayers,  ejaculations,  and  devotional  forms  of 
preparation,  alike  in  health  or  old  age,  by  day  or  at 
night,  in  sickness  or  at  the  moment  of  death. 

Another  peaceful  yet  shining  light  of  the  Church 
during  the  Civil  Wars,  was  Robert  Sanderson  (1587- 
1662),  who  at  the  Restoration  was  consecrated  Bishop 
of  Lincoln,  and  has  left  his  mark  on  the  history  of  the 
Common  Prayer  Book.  By  the  Parliamentarians  he 
was  ejected  from  his  professorship  at  Oxford,  and 
imprisoned.  But  his  sorrows  deepened  and  enlarged 
his  love  of  the  Psalter — "the  treasury,"  as  he  told 
Izaak  Walton,  "of  Christian  comfort,  fitted  for  all 
persons  and  all  necessities  ;  able  to  raise  the  soul  from 
dejection  by  the  frequent  mention  of  God's  mercies 
to  repentant  sinners  :  to  stir  up  holy  desires ;  to  increase 


234  THE  PURITANS,  1600-1660 

joy ;  to  moderate  sorrow ;  to  nourish  hope,  and  teach 
us  patience,  by  waiting  God's  leisure ;  to  beget  a  trust 
in  the  mercy,  power,  and  providence  of  our  Creator ; 
and  to  cause  a  resignation  of  ourselves  to  his  will :  and 
then,  and  not  till  then,  to  believe  ourselves  happy." 
He  added,  that,  by  the  frequent  use  of  the  Psalms, 
"they  would  not  only  prove  to  be  our  souls' 
comfort,  but  would  become  so  habitual,  as  to 
transform  them  into  the  image  of  his  soul  that 
composed  them."  He  himself  used  them  constantly. 
"As  the  holy  Psalmist  said,"  writes  Walton,  "that 
his  eyes  should  prevent  both  the  dawning  of  the  day  and 
the  night  watches,  by  meditating  on  God's  Word  (Psalm 
cxix.,  verse  148),  so  it  was  Dr  Sanderson's  constant 
practice  every  morning  to  entertain  his  first  waking 
thoughts  with  a  repetition  of  those  very  psalms  that 
the  Church  hath  appointed  to  be  constantly  read  in 
the  daily  morning  service ;  and  having  at  night  laid 
him  in  his  bed,  he  as  constantly  closed  his  eyes  with  a 
repetition  of  those  appointed  for  the  service  of  the 
evening,  remembering  and  repeating  the  very  psalms 
appointed  for  every  day."  On  the  day  before  his  death, 
he  desired  his  chaplain  to  give  him  absolution.  "  After 
this  desire  of  his  was  satisfied,  his  body  seemed  to  be 
more  at  ease,  and  his  mind  more  cheerful ;  and  he 
said,  Lord,  forsake  me  not  now  my  strength  faileth  me 
(Ps.  Ixxi.,  verse  8) ;  but  continue  thy  mercy,  and  let  my 
mouth  be  filled  with  thy  praise.  He  continued  the 
remaining  night  and  day  very  patient,  and  to  himself 
during  that  time  did  often  say  the  103rd  Psalm, 
and  very  often  these  words,  My  heart  is  fixed,  0  God; 
my  heart  is  fixed  where  true  joy  is  to  be  found" 
(Ps.  Ivii.,  verse  8).  "  Thus,"  continues  Walton,  in  the 
conclusion  of  one  of  the  most  charming  of  his 


THE  EARL  OP  STRAFFORD  235 

biographies,  "this  pattern  of  meekness  and  primi- 
tive innocence  changed  this  for  a  better  life.  It  is 
now  too  late  to  wish  that  my  life  may  be  like  his ; 
for  I  am  in  the  eighty-fifth  year  of  my  age ;  but  I 
humbly  beseech  Almighty  God,  that  my  death  may ; 
and  do  as  enrnestly  beg  .  .  .  any  reader  ...  to  say 
Amen.  Blessed  is  the  man  in  whose  spirit  there  is 
no  guile  "  (Ps.  xxxii.,  verse  2). 

In  love  of  the  Psalter,  Anglican  and  Independent, 
Cavalier  and  Roundhead,  might  be  united.  In  all 
else  they  were  bitterly  opposed.  Even  before  the 
execution  of  the  Earl  of  Strafford  and  of  Laud,  men 
recognised  that  an  appeal  to  arms  was  almost  inevit- 
able. Yet  it  was  to  the  Psalms  that  those  two  min- 
isters, whom  the  people  held  directly  responsible  for 
the  king's  most  oppressive  acts,  appealed  in  the 
moment  of  their  death. 

In  November  1640,  Thomas  Wentworth,  Earl  of 
Strafford,  had  been  committed  to  the  Tower.  It  was 
not  till  five  months  later  that  his  trial  began.  During 
that  interval,  the  feeling  against  him  grew  every  day 
more  bitter.  "  Black  Tom  Tyrant "  was  hated  by  his 
former  colleagues  in  the  House  of  Commons  as  an 
apostate  from  the  popular  cause.  Stronger  than 
desire  for  vengeance  or  personal  dislike  was  the  fear 
with  which  his  commanding  ability  and  indomitable 
will  inspired  his  opponents.  Vague  forebodings  of 
violence,  rumours  of  popish  plots,  suspicion  of  the 
king's  purpose,  were  whispered  in  the  House  of 
Commons.  Nothing  is  more  cruel  than  a  panic ;  as 
long  as  Strafford  lived,  men  felt  their  own  lives  and 
liberties  to  be  in  peril.  "  Stone  dead  hath  no  fellow," 
and  his  punishment  was  demanded  as  a  protection 
against  a  public  enemy.  Strafford  knew  his  danger, 


236  THE  PURITANS,  1600-1660 

when  he  obeyed  Charles's  summons,  and  came  from 
Yorkshire  to  London.  But  he  had  the  king's  assur- 
ance that  he  should  suffer  neither  in  his  person,  nor 
in  his  honour,  nor  in  his  estate.  On  this  explicit 
promise  he  relied.  Even  after  his  committal  to  the 
Tower,  he  had  written  to  his  wife,  bidding  her  keep 
up  her  heart.  "I  am,"  he  said,  "in  great  inward 
quietness  and  a  strong  belief  that  God  will  deliver 
me  out  of  all  these  troubles." 

On  March  22nd,  1641,  the  trial  had  begun.  In  the 
centre  of  Westminster  Hall  was  raised  a  stage,  taking 
up  the  whole  breadth  of  the  building  from  wall  to 
wall,  and  about  a  third  part  of  the  length.  At  the 
north  end  was  set  a  throne  of  state  for  the  king,  and 
a  chair  for  the  prince.  These  stood  empty ;  but  on 
either  side  of  the  throne  was  a  gallery,  on  one  side  of 
which  sat  the  King  and  Queen,  Princess  Mary,  the 
Prince  Elector,  and  some  ladies  of  the  Court,  and  on 
the  other  side  various  French  nobles.  In  front  of 
the  throne  sat  the  Earl  of  Arundel,  who  acted  as 
Speaker.  Below  him  were  seats  for  the  Judges,  and 
a  little  table  at  which  were  the  black-gowned  clerks 
of  the  House.  On  forms,  covered  with  red  cloth,  sat 
the  Peers,  in  their  red  and  ermine  robes.  On  either 
side  of  the  Hall,  along  its  east  and  west  walls,  and  at 
its  southern  end,  were  ranged  stages  of  forms,  on 
which  sat  the  members  of  the  House  of  Commons 
and  spectators.  Above  the  highest  stage  of  forms, 
were  boxes  crowded  with  ladies. 

At  eight  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  March  22nd, 
the  Earl  of  Strafford,  dressed  in  a  black  habit,  and 
wearing  his  George,  was  brought  in,  in  custody  of  the 
Lieutenant  of  the  Tower.  His  crisp  dark  hair  was 
turning  grey,  and  his  figure  stooped  slightly  from 


TRIAL  OF  STRAFFORD  237 

recent  illness.  He  took  his  place  at  the  bar,  with 
his  secretaries  behind  him,  and  on  a  level  with 
him  were  the  eight  managers  who  conducted  the 
case  for  the  House  of  Commons.  Hour  after 
hour,  he  stood  at  bay.  Every  morning  those  who 
wished  for  seats  were  in  the  Hall  by  five ;  the 
king  arrived  at  half-past  seven ;  the  Lords  took 
their  seats,  with  heads  covered,  at  eight,  and 
continued  sitting  till  four  in  the  afternoon.  When 
Stafford  was  preparing  his  replies  to  special  points 
in  the  indictment,  the  Lords  rose  from  their  seats, 
talked  and  clattered  about ;  the  members  of  the  House 
of  Commons  discussed  the  progress  of  the  trial ;  "  bread 
and  flesh"  were  eaten,  "bottles  of  beer  and  wine 
going  thick  from  mouth  to  mouth  without  cups." 
Sometimes  the  speeches  were  hissed ;  at  other  times 
a  deep  hum  marked  the  approval  of  the  audience; 
and  Stafford,  as  Baillie,  his  enemy,  remarked,  daily 
gained  the  affections  of  the  ladies  by  his  eloquence 
and  address. 

On  April  13th,  he  made  his  defence  against  the 
whole  charge  of  treason.  It  was  evident  that  he  was 
likely  to  escape.  The  Commons  therefore  determined 
to  proceed  by  a  Bill  of  Attainder,  and  to  vote  him  a 
traitor.  The  Bill  was  read  a  third  time  in  the  Lower 
House  on  April  21st,  and  in  the  Upper  House  on  May 
8th.  Would  the  king  accept  or  reject  it  ?  Four  days 
before  the  third  reading,  Stafford  wrote  a  letter  to 
Charles,  "to  set"  the  king's  "conscience  at  liberty." 
"My  consent,"  he  says,  "shall  more  acquit  you  herein 
to  God  than  all  the  world  can  do  besides.  To  a  will- 
ing man  there  is  no  injury  done;  and  as,  by  God's 
grace,  I  forgive  all  the  world,  with  calmness  and 
meekness  of  infinite  contentment  to  my  dislodging 


238  THE  PURITANS,  1600-1660 

soul,  so,  Sir,  I  can  give  to  you  the  life  of  this  world 
with  all  the  cheerfulness  imaginable,  in  the  just 
acknowledgment  of  your  exceeding  favours." 

The  king  delayed  his  assent  to  the  attainder.  All 
Sunday,  May  9th,  an  armed  mob  paraded  the  streets 
and  threatened  an  attack  on  Whitehall.  At  length, 
late  in  the  evening,  Charles  yielded.  "My  lord  of 
Strafford's  condition,"  he  said,  as  he  signed  his  name 
to  a  commission  charged  to  give  his  assent,  "  is  more 
happy  than  mine."  On  Tuesday  morning,  he  made  a 
final  appeal  to  the  Lords  to  commute  Strafford's 
sentence  to  one  of  imprisonment.  "  But  if,"  he  adds, 
"no  less  than  his  life  can  satisfy  my  people,  I  must 
say  Fiat  justitia."  Then  follows  the  postscript,  "If 
he  must  die,  it  were  a  charity  to  reprieve  him  to 
Saturday." 

His  weak  appeal  was  made  in  vain.  The  next 
day,  May  12th,  1641,  Strafford  met  his  death  courage- 
ously on  Tower  Hill.  The  news  that  Charles  had 
deserted  him  had  come  to  him  with  the  shock  of 
surprise.  Perhaps  he  may  have  relied  to  the  last  on 
the  king's  promise.  It  is  thus  that  a  poet  has  repre- 
sented him  turning  to  the  messenger  of  his  fate : 

"  See  this  paper,  warm — feel — warm 
With  lying  next  my  heart !     Whose  hand  is  there  ? 
Whose  promise  ?     Read,  and  loud  for  God  to  hear ! 
'  Strafford  shall  take  no  hurt ' — read  it,  I  say ! 
*  In  person,  honour,  nor  estate.' " 

But  if  such  thoughts  were  in  his  mind,  it  was  to 
the  Psalms  that,  in  bitterness  of  spirit,  he  turned  for 
their  expression :  "  O  put  not  your  trust  in  princes, 
nor  in  any  child  of  man ;  for  there  is  no  help  in  them  " 
(Ps.  cxlvi.,  verse  2).  Strafford's  quotation  recalls  the 


ARCHBISHOP  LAUD  239 

words  which  Shakespeare  places  in  the  mouth  of  the 
fallen  Wolsey  • 

€t  O,  how  wretched 

Is  that  poor  man  that  hangs  on  princes'  favours ! 
There  is,  betwixt  that  smile  we  would  aspire  to, 
That  sweet  aspect  of  princes,  and  their  ruin, 
More  pangs  or  fears  than  wars  or  women  have  ; 
And  when  he  falls,  he  falls  like  Lucifer, 
Never  to  hope  again." 

With  Strafford,  in  all  the  high-handed  acts  of 
Charles's  Government,  was  associated  Laud.  Against 
the  archbishop  were,  in  addition,  arrayed  the  bitter- 
ness of  religious  feeling  and  the  desire  for  vengeance 
on  a  persecutor.  It  was  partly  the  error  of  his  time, 
partly  the  bias  of  his  legal  mind,  which  led  him  to 
depreciate  the  value  of  diversities  and  to  exaggerate 
that  of  uniformity,  in  matters  of  belief  and  opinion.  But 
adversity  revealed  in  him  virtues  which  official  severity 
had  too  often  concealed.  "  Prejudged  by  foes  deter- 
mined not  to  spare,"  imprisoned  in  the  Tower,  old 
and  failing  in  health,  stricken  with  ague,  subjected  to 
unworthy  insults,  threatened  with  violent  death,  he 
never  lost  his  courage,  his  patience,  or  his  dignity. 
Libels  against  him  flowed  from  the  pens  of  his 
opponents ;  slanders  ran  from  mouth  to  mouth ; 
abusive  ballads  were  sung  in  streets  and  taverns. 
Laud  comforted  himself  with  the  thought  that 
he  was  "in  the  same  case  as  the  Prophet  David." 
"  They  that  sit  in  the  gate  speak  against  me ;  and  the 
drunkards  make  songs  upon  me  "  (Ps.  Ixix.,  verse  12). 
Placed  in  confinement  in  December  1640,  committed 
to  the  Tower  in  the  following  March,  he  waited  for 
his  trial  till  the  spring  of  1644.  The  proceedings 
against  him  were  conducted  with  as  little  respect  to 
law  as  the  most  arbitrary  act  with  which  he  himself 


240  THE  PURITANS,  1600-1660 

was  charged.  On  10th  January  1645,  he  suffered 
death  on  Tower  Hill  in  the  seventy-second  year  of  his 
age,  his  face  showing  so  little  fear  of  death  that  his 
disappointed  enemies  accused  him  of  having  painted  his 
ruddy  cheeks.  In  his  speech  from  the  scaffold  he  quoted 
Psalm  ix.,  verse  12,  "For,  when  he  maketh  inqui- 
sition for  blood,  he  remembereth  them ;  and  forgetteth 
not  the  complaint  of  the  poor."  It  was  the  Psalms 
that  had  sustained  his  courage  during  his  long  im- 
prisonment. His  prayers,  of  which  the  following  may 
be  quoted,  are  cast  in  the  mould  of  their  thoughts,  and 
echo  their  language. 

"  O  Lord,  blessed  is  the  man  that  hath  Thee  for 
His  help,  and  whose  hope  is  in  Thee.  O  Lord,  help 
me  and  all  them  to  right  that  suffer  wrong.  Thou  art 
the  Lord,  which  looseth  men  out  of  prison,  which 
helpest  them  that  are  fallen.  O  Lord,  help  and  deliver 
me,  when  and  as  it  shall  seem  best  to  Thee ;  even  for 
Jesus  Christ  His  sake.  Amen." 

"  O  Lord,  Thine  indignation  lies  hard  upon  me ; 
and  though  Thou  hast  not  (for  Thy  mercy  is  great) 
vexed  me  with  all  Thy  storms,  yet  Thou  hast  put  my 
acquaintance  far  from  me,  and  I  am  so  fast  in  prison 
that  I  cannot  get  forth.  Lord,  I  call  daily  upon  Thee, 
hear  and  have  mercy;  for  Jesus  Christ  His  sake. 
Amen." 

"  Lord,  turn  Thee  unto  me,  and  have  mercy  upon 
me,  for  I  am  desolate  and  in  misery.  The  sorrows  of 
my  heart  are  enlarged ;  O  bring  Thou  me  out  of  my 
troubles.  Look  upon  mine  adversity  and  misery,  and 
forgive  me  all  my  sins ;  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord. 
Amen." 

"  Hear  my  crying,  O  God,  give  ear  unto  my  prayer ; 
from  the  ends  of  the  earth,  whithersoever  Thou  shalt 


JOHN  HAMPDEN  241 

cast  me,  I  will  call  upon  Thee  when  my  heart  is  in 
heaviness.  O  set  me  upon  the  rock  that  is  higher  than 
I,  to  be  my  hope  and  a  strong  tower  against  my 
oppressors.  Amen." 

"  Save  me,  O  God,  for  the  waters  are  entered  into 
my  soul.  I  stick  fast  in  the  deep  mire,  where  no  stay 
is ;  I  am  come  into  deep  waters,  and  the  streams  run 
over  me.  They  that  hate  me  without  a  cause  are 
more  than  the  hairs  of  my  head,  and  they  which  would 
destroy  me  causeless  are  mighty.  O  let  not  these 
water-floods  drown  me,  neither  let  the  deep  swallow 
me  up,  and  let  not  the  pit  shut  her  mouth  upon  me. 
Hear  me,  O  Lord,  for  Thy  loving-kindness  is  great ; 
turn  unto  me  according  to  the  multitude  of  Thy  tender 
mercies.  Hide  not  Thy  face  from  Thy  servant,  for  I 
am  in  trouble,  but  draw  near  unto  my  soul,  and  redeem 
it ;  for  Jesus  Christ  His  sake.  Amen." 

When  once  the  Civil  War  had  begun,  it  was  with 
the  Psalms  that  the  shock  of  battle  was  often  heralded. 
So  was  it  at  the  battle  of  Marston  Moor.  About  two 
o'clock  in  the  afternoon  of  July  2nd,  1644,  the  armies 
of  the  King  and  Parliament  faced  each  other.  The 
great  ordnance  began  to  play.  "  The  first  shot  killed 
a  son  of  Sir  Gilbert  Haughton  that  was  a  captain  in 
the  Prince's  army ;  but  this  was  only  a  showing  their 
teeth  ;  for  after  a  few  shots  made,  they  gave  over,  and 
in  Marston  corn-fields  fell  to  singing  psalms."  With 
a  psalm  also  is  associated  the  death  of  distinguished 
leaders  like  John  Hampden.  On  Saturday,  June  17th, 
1643,  about  four  in  the  afternoon,  Prince  Rupert  rode 
out  from  Oxford  at  the  head  of  his  men,  clattering 
over  Magdalen  Bridge,  and  crossing  the  Thame  at 
Chislehampton.  They  encountered  Hampden  and 
his  troop  at  Chalgrove  Field.  Early  on  Sunday 

Q 


242  THE  PURITANS,  1600-1660 

morning,  18th  June,  Hampden  was  seen  riding  out 
of  the  fight  before  it  was  ended,  his  head  bent,  his 
hands  resting  on  his  horse's  neck.  It  was  a  thing, 
says  Lord  Clarendon,  "  he  never  used  to  do,  and  from 
which  it  was  concluded  he  was  hurt."  He  was  indeed 
mortally  wounded.  It  is  supposed  that  he  first  tried 
to  reach  Pyrton,  where  he  had  wooed  and  won  his 
first  wife,  and  where  he  would  fain  have  died.  But 
he  was  cut  off  by  Rupert's  horsemen,  and  forced  to 
turn  back  and  ride  to  Thame.  There,  in  the  house  of 
Ezekiel  Browne,  after  six  days'  agony,  he  died.  His 
troopers,  as  they  bore  his  body  to  the  grave  through 
the  beech-woods  of  Buckinghamshire,  chanted  Psalm 
xc.,  which,  since  1662,  has  had  its  place  in  the  burial 
service  of  our  Prayer-book. 

His  power  broken  at  Marston  Moor,  Charles  I. 
was  a  hostage  or  a  prisoner  in  the  Scottish  camp  at 
Newark.  The  triumphant  ministers  insulted  their 
captive  by  ordering  Psalm  lii.  to  be  sung :  "  Why 
boastest  thou  thyself,  thou  tyrant,  that  thou  canst  do 
mischief;  whereas  the  goodness  of  God  endureth  yet 
daily  ? "  It  was  by  an  appeal  to  the  Psalms  that  Charles 
robbed  the  insult  of  its  sting.  His  only  reply  was  to 
ask  for  Psalm  Ivi. :  "  Be  merciful  unto  me,  O  God, 
for  man  goeth  about  to  devour  me ;  he  is  daily  fight- 
ing, and  troubling  me.  Mine  enemies  are  daily  in 
hand  to  swallow  me  up ;  for  they  be  many  that  fight 
against  me,  O  Thou  Most  Highest." 

Instances  of  the  use  of  the  Psalms  by  one  side  or 
other  might  be  multiplied.  But  their  influence  upon 
a  movement,  which  is  still  a  living  force  in  our  midst, 
may  be  best  illustrated  in  the  lives  or  writings  of 
Milton,  Bunyan,  and  Cromwell — the  finest  products  of 
Puritanism  as  a  literary,  spiritual,  or  political  force. 


JOHN  MILTON  243 

Over  Milton  the  Psalms  threw  their  spell  in  early 
life.  At  the  age  of  fifteen,  already  an  undergraduate 
at  Christ's  College,  Cambridge,  he  translated  into 
verse  Psalms  cxiv.  and  cxxxvi  Of  the  latter,  his 
version  is  the  well  known : 

u  Let  us  with  a  gladsome  mind 
Praise  the  Lord  for  he  is  kind, 
For  his  mercies  aye  endure 
Ever  faithful,  ever  sure." 

In  1648,  he  translated  from  the  original  "into 
meter"  nine  Psalms  (Ixxx.-lxxxviii.),  and  in  1653, 
eight  more  Psalms  (i.-viii.)  were  "done  into  verse." 
Throughout  his  poems  are  scattered  allusions,  more 
or  less  direct,  to  the  Psalms.  There  is  an  echo  of 
Psalm  xxiv.,  verses  7-10,  in  his  lines  in  Paradise  Lost 
(Book  vii,  11.  205-9,  and  11.  565-9) : 

"  Heav'n  open'd  wide 
Her  ever-during  gates,  harmonious  sound 
On  golden  hinges  moving,  to  let  forth 
The  King  of  Glory  in  His  powerful  Word 
And  Spirit  coming  to  create  new  worlds." 

and,  as  God  returns  heavenward,  his  creative  word 
accomplished : 

"  Open,  ye  everlasting  Gates,  they  sung, 
Open,  ye  Heav'n s,  your  living  doors  ;  let  in 
The  great  Creator,  from  his  work  return'd 
Magnificent,  his  six  days'  work,  a  World." 

In  the  same  Book  (11.  370-4),  the  picture  of  the 
Sun  rejoicing  "as  a  giant  to  run  his  course"  (Ps.  xix., 
verse  5)  is  in  his  mind,  when  he  writes : 

"  First  in  his  East  the  glorious  lamp  was  seen, 
Regent  of  day,  and  all  th'  horizon  round 
Invested  with  bright  rays,  joqund  to  run 
His  longitude  through  Heav'n's  high  road." 


•244  THE  PURITANS,  1600-1660 

Portions  of  the  speech  of  Adam  (Paradise  Lost, 
Book  xii.,  11.  561-6)  seem  a  paraphrase  of  Psalm  cxlv. : 

"  Henceforth  I  learn,  that  to  obey  is  best, 
And  love  with  fear  the  only  God,  to  walk 
As  in  his  presence,  ever  to  observe 
His  providence,  and  on  him  sole  depend, 
Merciful  over  all  his  works,  with  good 
Still  overcoming  evil,  and  by  small 
Accomplishing  great  things,  by  things  deem'd  weak 
Subverting  worldly  strong,  and  worldly  wise 
By  simply  meek." 

So  also  in  "  Samson  Agonistes  "  (11.  932-7),  when 
the  blind  Samson  rejects  the  appeal  of  Delilah,  he 
refers  to  the  "  deaf  adder  "  of  Psalm  Iviii.,  verse  4 : 

"  I  know  thy  trains, 

Though  dearly  to  my  cost,  thy  gins,  and  toils ; 
Thy  fair  enchanted  cup,  and  warbling  charms 
No  more  on  me  have  power ;  their  force  is  null'd ; 
So  much  of  adder's  wisdom  I  have  learn'd, 
To  fence  my  ear  against  thy  sorceries." 

Finally,  when,  in  Paradise  Regained,  Satan  tempts 
Christ  with  the  wisdom  of  the  ancient  Greeks,  it  is 
with  praise  of  the  Psalms,  couched  in  the  true  spirit 
of  the  Puritan,  that  the  Saviour  repels  the  temptation  : 

(t  All  our  Law  and  Story  strow'd 
With  hymns,  our  Psalms  with  artful  terms  inscrib'd, 
Our  Hebrew  songs  and  harps,  in  Babylon 
That  pleas'd  so  well  our  victor's  ear,  declare 
That  rather  Greece  from  us  these  arts  deriv'd — 
111  imitated,  while  they  loudest  sing 
The  vices  of  their  deities  -  .  . 
Remove  their  swelling  epithets  thick  laid 
As  varnish  on  a  harlot's  cheek,  the  rest, 
Thin  sown  with  aught  of  profit  or  delight, 
Will  far  be  found  unworthy  to  compare 
With  Sion's  songs,  to  all  true  tastes  excelling, 
Where  God  is  prais'd  aright  and  god-like  men, 
The  Holiest  of  Holies,  and  his  Saints,"  etc. 

(Book  iv.,  11.  334-49.) 


JOHN  BUNYAN  245 

Paradise  Lost  enshrines  in  stately  verse  the  general 
scheme  of  Puritan  theology :  The  Pilgrim's  Progress 
applies  that  system  in  allegorical  form  to  the  sphere 
of  individual  life.  Milton's  sonorous  grandeur  suits 
the  theme  of  God's  dealing  with  the  world  and  with 
mankind ;  equally  well  is  Bunyan's  language,  homely 
yet  never  vulgar,  simple  but  always  adequate,  racy 
without  irreverence,  adapted  to  his  dramatic  presenta- 
tion of  the  moral  warfare  waged  by  a  human  soul 
against  the  powers  of  evil. 

One  secret  of  the  undying  charm  of  the  great 
Puritan  allegory,  is  its  truth  to  Bunyan's  own  nature. 
He  describes  his  own  experience :  he  paints,  with 
vivid  realism,  the  picture  of  his  own  inner  self;  the 
struggle  of  Christian  is  a  transcript  of  his  own  spiritual 
conflict.  He  has  himself  been  plunged  into  the  Slough 
of  Despond,  himself  fought  hand-to-hand  with  Apol- 
lyon,  himself  passed  through  the  Valley  of  the  Shadow 
of  Death,  himself  reached  the  Heavenly  landing-place. 
In  his  Grace  abounding  to  the  Chief  of  Sinners,  which 
bears  the  motto,  "Come  and  hear  all  ye  that  fear 
God,  and  I  will  declare  what  he  hath  done  for 
my  soul"  (Ps.  Ixvi.,  verse  14),  he  has  recorded, 
with  a  pen  of  iron  and  in  letters  of  fire,  his 
own  passage  from  death  to  life.  His  religious  auto- 
biography traces  his  steps  towards  the  attainment  of 
that  inward  peace,  which  passes  all  human  under- 
standing because  it  is  the  Peace  of  God.  It  chronicles 
every  fluctuation  of  hope  and  despair ;  it  arrests  and 
examines,  with  strange  ingenuity  of  self-torture,  every 
secret  thought,  every  passing  doubt,  every  momentary 
fear.  His  vivid  imagination  makes  his  feelings  actors 
in  a  real  drama.  As  a  boy,  he  had  felt  the  devil's 
claws  strike  into  his  flesh,  till  he  all  but  screamed 


246  THE  PURITANS,  1600-1660 

with  pain.  As  a  man,  he  holds  soundless  colloquies 
with  Satan,  whose  words  seem  to  be  spoken  so  loudly 
in  his  ear  that  he  almost  turns  round,  expecting  to 
find  the  tempter  in  bodily  shape  at  his  elbow. 

The  "  loose,  ungodly  wretch  "  had  become  a  "  brisk 
talker  "  about  religious  matters,  well  spoken  of  by  his 
neighbours  before  his  face  and  even  behind  his  back. 
The  struggle  began  when  he  realised  that  he  was  but  a 
"poor,  painted  hypocrite,"  ignorant  of  the  meaning  of 
true  personal  religion.  Had  he  faith  ?  he  asked  him- 
self, and  he  was  tempted  to  put  his  possession  of  the 
gift  to  the  test  by  bidding  "  the  puddles  in  the  horse- 
pads  be  dry."  In  a  vision,  he  saw  himself  shivering  on 
the  dark,  frozen,  snow-clad  side  of  a  high  mountain, 
while  on  the  other  side  all  was  bright  and  bathed  in 
sunshine.  At  first  he  could  find  no  passage  in  the 
wall  which  divided  the  two  sides  of  the  mountain ;  but 
at  length  he  found  a  gap,  through  which,  with  much 
"sideling  striving,"  he  squeezed  first  his  head,  then  his 
shoulders,  then  his  whole  body.  The  mountain  was 
God's  Church — the  sunshine,  His  merciful  face — the 
wall,  the  world  —  the  gap,  Jesus  Christ.  In  his 
vehement  desire  to  be  of  the  number  of  those  who  sat 
in  the  sun,  he  would  often  sing  Psalm  li.  But  new 
fears  disquieted  him.  Was  he  elected  ?  Was  the  day 
of  grace  past  and  gone?  Would  Christ  call  him? 
His  heart  a-flame  to  be  converted,  he  yet  found  that 
his  unbelief  set  its  shoulder  to  the  door  to  keep  out 
his  Lord.  Then,  with  many  a  bitter  sigh,  he  would 
cry,  "Good  Lord,  break  it  open:  Lord,  break 
these  gates  of  brass,  and  cut  these  bars  of  iron 
asunder"  (Ps.  cvii.,  verse  16).  So  convinced  was 
he  of  his  own  inward  pollution,  that  he  was,  in 
bis  own  sight,  loathsome  as  a  toad.  Sin  and  cor- 


GRACE  ABOUNDING  247 

rnption  seemed  to  bubble  from  his  heart  as  from  a 
fountain.  Yet  at  times  the  sense  of  God's  love  cheered 
him.  The  words,  "Thou  art  my  love,  thou  art  my 
love,"  burned  within  his  heart  till  they  kindled  a  cheer- 
ful blaze.  In  his  joy  he  could  hardly  refrain  from 
telling  his  gladness  to  the  crows  that  fed  on  the  freshly 
turned  plough-lands. 

Once  again  the  comfort  was  dashed  from  his  lips 
by  the  thoughts — are  the  words  true  ?— had  he  com- 
mitted the  unpardonable  sin  against  the  Holy  Ghost  ? 
— was  he  beyond  the  pale  of  God's  mercy  ?  He  would 
gladly  have  changed  his  condition  for  that  of  any  other 
living  creature.  A  horse  or  a  dog  were  happier.  He 
prayed.  But  in  his  prayers  Satan  was  ever  at  his  side, 
chilling  the  warmth  of  his  aspirations,  or  distracting 
his  thoughts  with  wandering  fancies.  Though  "his 
soul  was  much  in  prayer,"  he  failed  to  pray  to  be  kept 
from  the  temptations  and  the  evil  that  were  to  come. 
Of  his  error,  he  was,  he  says,  "  made  deeply  sensible 
by  the  prayer  of  holy  David,  who  when  he  was  under 
present  mercy  yet  prayed  that  God  would  hold  him 
back  from  sin  and  temptation  to  come :  '  So  shall  I 
beundefiled,  and  innocent  from  the  great  offence7" 
(Ps.  xix.,  verse  13).  Even  when  he  was  consoled 
by  the  conviction  of  God's  continued  love  towards 
him,  and  by  the  sense  of  his  own  earnest  love  for 
Christ,  the  struggle  was  renewed.  He  was  assailed 
by  a  "yet  more  grievous  and  dreadful  temptation 
than  before,"  which  never  left  him  for  a  day.  The 
tempter  bade  him  exchange  Christ  for  the  things 
of  this  world.  "Sell  Him  for  this,"  whispered  Satan, 
as  he  put  a  morsel  of  food  in  his  mouth.  "  Sell  Him  for 
this,"  as  he  chopped  a  stick,  or  stooped  to  pick  up  a  pin. 
At  last  he  thought  that  he  had  yielded  to  the  tempta- 


248  THE  PURITANS,  1600-1660 

tion,  and  had  committed  the  "  great  offence  "  of  Psalm 
xix.,  verse  13.  He  compared  himself  to  Esau,  who 
could  not  ransom  his  bartered  birthright  by  an  eternity 
of  repentance.  Like  Judas,  he  felt  his  breast-bone 
splitting  asunder.  At  moments  the  words  of  Psalm 
Ixviii.,  verse  18  ("Thou  hast  received  gifts  for  men, 
yea,  even  for  Thine  enemies  "),  consoled  him.  If  God 
had  gifts  for  His  enemies,  why  not  for  him  ?  Yet  so 
despondent  was  he,  that  he  thought  the  sun  grudged 
him  his  light,  and  the  very  roof-tiles  and  paving-stones 
were  banded  together  against  him.  Again  happiness 
returned  to  him,  as  he  pondered  over  the  words,  "  If 
Thou,  Lord,  wilt  be  extreme  to  mark  what  is  done 
amiss ;  O  Lord,  who  may  abide  it  ?  For  there  is 
mercy  with  Thee ;  therefore  shalt  Thou  be  feared " 
(Ps.  cxxx.,  verses  3,  4).  But  once  more  he  felt  that 
his  own  transgressions  had  left  him  neither  foot- 
hold nor  hand-hold  "  among  all  the  stays  and  props 
in  the  precious  word  of  life."  For  two  years  and 
a  half  the  discouragement  continued.  As  he  was 
vehemently  desiring  to  know  whether  there  was 
indeed  hope  for  him,  these  words  came  rolling  into 
his  mind :  "  Will  the  Lord  absent  Himself  for  ever ; 
and  will  He  be  no  more  intreated  ?  Is  His  mercy  clean 
gone  for  ever ;  and  is  His  promise  come  utterly  to  an 
end  for  evermore  ?  Hath  God  forgotten  to  be  gracious, 
and  will  He  shut  up  His  loving-kindness  in  dis- 
pleasure?" (Ps.  Ixxvii.,  verses  7-9).  He  was  not 
far  from  the  end  of  his  struggle.  "One  day,"  he 
says,  "as  I  was  passing  into  the  field,  and  that  too 
with  some  dashes  on  my  conscience,  fearing  lest  yet 
all  was  not  right,  suddenly  this  sentence  fell  upon 
my  soul,  'Thy  righteousness  is  in  heaven/  And 
methought  withal,  I  saw  with  the  eyes  of  my  soul, 


BUNYAN'S  RELIGIOUS  STRUGGLE  249 

i 

J06us  Christ  at  God's  right-hand;  there,  I  say, 
was  my  righteousness ;  so  that  wherever  I  was,  or 
whatever  I  was  doing,  God  could  not  say  of  me,  *  He 
wants  my  righteousness,'  for  that  was  just  before  Him. 
I  also  saw,  moreover,  that  it  was  not  my  good  frame  of 
heart  that  made  my  righteousness  better,  nor  yet  my 
bad  frame  that  made  my  righteousness  worse;  for 
my  righteousness  was  Jesus  Christ  Himself,  '  the  same 
yesterday,  to-day,  and  for  ever,'  Heb.  xiii.,  verse  8." 
He  returned  home  rejoicing;  his  temptations  fled 
away:  the  "dreadful  Scriptures  of  God"  ceased 
to  trouble  him ;  he  "  lived  very  sweetly  at  peace 
with  God  through  Christ."  He  penetrated  "the 
mystery  of  union  with  the  Son  of  God " ;  realised 
that  he  was  joined  to  Him,  flesh  of  His  flesh,  bone 
of  His  bone. 

A  man  who  had  gained  his  peace  at  such  a  cost, 
was  not  likely  to  surrender  his  convictions  lightly. 
Yet  the  thought  of  the  misery  that  might  befall  his 
family,  and  especially  his  blind  child,  made  him  shrink 
from  imprisonment.  The  irresolution  was  momentary. 
"  If  I  should,"  he  says,  "  venture  all  for  God,  I  engaged 
God  to  take  care  of  my  concernments ;  but  if  I  for- 
sook Him  and  His  ways,  for  fear  of  any  trouble  that 
should  come  to  me  or  mine,  then  I  should  not  only 
falsify  my  profession,  but  should  count  also  that  my  con- 
cernments were  not  so  sure,  if  left  at  God's  feet  while  I 
stood  to  and  for  His  name,  as  they  would  be  if  they  were 
under  my  own  tuition,  though  with  the  denial  of  the 
way  of  God.  This  was  a  smarting  consideration,  and 
was  as  spurs  unto  my  flesh.  That  Scripture  (Ps.  cix., 
verses  6-20)  also  greatly  helped  it  to  fasten  the  more 
upon  me,  where  Christ  prays  against  Judas,  that  God 
would  disappoint  him  in  his  selfish  thoughts,  which 


250  THE  PURITANS,  1600-1660 

moved  him  to  sell  his  Master ;  pray  read  it  soberly, 
Psalm  cix.,  verses  6,  7,  8,"  etc. 

The  personal  grip  with  which  Bunyan  had  laid 
hold  of  his  religion,  gave  him  powers  as  a  preacher 
which  were  envied  by  the  most  learned  of  his 
contemporaries.  "In  my  preaching,"  he  writes, 
"I  have  really  been  in  pain,  and  have,  as  it  were, 
travailed  to  bring  forth  children  to  God;  neither 
could  I  be  satisfied  unless  some  fruits  did  appear  in 
my  work :  if  I  were  fruitless,  it  mattered  not  who 
commended  me ;  but  if  I  were  fruitful,  I  cared  not 
who  did  condemn.  I  have  thought  of  that,  'Lo, 
children  and  the  fruit  of  the  womb  are  an  heritage 
and  gift  that  cometh  of  the  Lord.  Like  as  the  arrows 
in  the  hand  of  the  giant,  even  so  are  the  young 
children.  Happy  is  the  man  that  hath  his  quiver  full 
of  them ;  they  shall  not  be  ashamed  when  they  speak 
with  their  enemies  in  the  gate ' "  (Ps.  cxxvii.,  verses 
4-6). 

In  the  poetry  of  Milton,  in  the  mental  history  of 
Bunyan,  the  power  of  the  Psalms  is  strongly  marked. 
Their  influence  is  still  more  clearly  seen  in  the  career 
of  Oliver  Cromwell,  the  foremost  figure  in  the  stirring 
times  of  the  Puritan  revolution,  the  strongest  type  of 
\  the  stern  religion  which  raised  him  to  the  summit  of 
fame  and  fortune.  The  spirit  that  he  read  into  the 
Psalms  governed  his  actions  at  each  supreme  crisis  of 
his  stormy  life ;  the  most  striking  stages  in  his  career 
are  marked  by  quotations  from  the  Psalms ;  in  his 
private  letters,  his  public  despatches,  his  addresses  to 
Parliament,  the  imagery,  metaphors,  and  language  of 
the  Psalms  drop  from  his  lips,  or  from  his  pen,  as  if 
by  constant  meditation  he  had  made  their  phraseology 
a  part  of  his  very  life. 


OLIVER  CROMWELL  251 

In  January  1636,  Cromwell  had  moved  his  home 
to  Ely  from  St  Ives,  where,  as  a  farmer,  a  grazier,  and 
a  notable  man  in  parochial  business,  he  had  left  his 
mark.  At  Ely,  as  the  heir  of  his  uncle,  Sir  Thomas 
Stewart,  Knight,  he  lived  close  to  St  Mary's  Church- 
yard, at  the  corner  of  the  great  Tithe  Barn.  From 
that  house  he  wrote  one  of  his  first  extant  letters, 
addressed  to  his  cousin,  Mrs  St  John,  the  wife  of  the 
celebrated  ship-money  lawyer.  In  it  he  speaks  of 
himself  and  his  lot  in  life. 

"Truly,  then,"  he  says,  "this  I  find;  that  He 
giveth  springs  in  a  dry,  barren  wilderness  where  no 
water  is.  I  live,  you  know  where, — in  Meshec,  which 
they  say  signifies  prolonging ;  in  Kedar,  which  signifies 
blackness;  yet  the  Lord  forsaketh  me  not.  Though 
He  do  prolong,  yet  He  will,  I  trust,  bring  me  to  His 
tabernacle,  to  His  resting-place"  (Ps.  cxx.). 

Twenty  years  later,  after  prolonged  and  bitter 
strife,  Oliver  Cromwell  had  become  Lord  Protector. 
On  the  16th  of  September  1656,  as  he  sat  in  his 
Palace  of  Whitehall,  he  was  reading  and  pondering 
the  85th  Psalm.  The  following  day  he  rode  in  state 
from  Whitehall  to  the  Abbey  Church  of  Westminster 
to  open  the  second  Parliament  of  the  Protectorate. 
Before  his  coach  went  "hundreds  of  gentlemen  and 
officers,  bareheaded,  the  Life  Guards,  and  his  pages 
and  lacqueys  richly  clothed."  The  service  ended,  he 
returned  to  Whitehall  with  the  same  pomp  and  cere- 
mony, and,  entering  the  Painted  Chamber,  delivered 
a  speech  to  the  newiy  assembled  members,  which  in 
part  is  an  exposition  of  the  85th  and  46th  Psalms. 

Within  those  twenty  years  had  passed  some  of  the 
most  stirring  scenes  of  English  history.  In  all  of  them 
Cromwell  was  a  principal  actor,  and  in  all,  the  Book 


252  THE  PURITANS,  1600-1660 

of  Psalms — sometimes  misread,  sometimes  grimly 
travestied,  rarely  if  ever  interpreted  by  the  tender 
light  of  the  New  Testament — was  his  constant  com- 
panion and  guide. 

Throughout  the  war  he  never  ceases  to  speak  the 
language  of  the  Psalms.  He  relies  not  on  men  and 
visible  helps,  though  no  practical  detail  which  can  give 
success  to  his  arms  escapes  his  keen  eye.  It  is  God's 
cause  in  which  he  fights.  In  God  is  his  strength.  It  is 
God  who  says,  "  Up  and  be  doing,  and  I  will  stand  by 
you  and  help  you."  It  is  God  who  makes  the  Royalists 
as  "  stubble  "  before  the  swords  of  the  Puritans.  In 
him  and  in  his  troopers  burns  the  spirit  of  young 
Walton,  who  died  at  Marston  Moor  with  one  thing 
only  lying  heavy  on  his  soul — that  "God  had  not 
suffered  him  to  be  any  more  the  executioner  of  His 


enemies." 


At  Naseby  fight,  Cromwell  had  seen  "  the  enemy 
draw  up  and  march  in  gallant  order  towards  us,  and 
we,  a  company  of  poor,  ignorant  men,  at  pains  to  order 
our  battle."  Yet  "  he  smiled  out  to  God  in  praises,  in 
assurance  of  victory,  because  God  would,  by  things  that 
are  not,  bring  to  naught  things  that  are.  Of  which  I 
had  great  assurance ;  and  God  did  it.  Oh  that  men 
would  therefore  praise  the  Lord,  and  declare  the 
wonders  that  He  doeth  for  the  children  of  men!" 
(Ps.  cvii.,  verse  8). 

As  the  victory  at  Naseby  is  the  "  hand  of  God," 
and  "  to  Him  alone  belongs  the  glory,"  so  in  the  storm- 
ing of  Bristol  he  "  must  be  a  very  atheist  who  doth  not 
acknowledge  God's  work."  The  same  spirit  is  mani- 
fested at  Basing  House.  Old  and  New  Basing,  each 
fitted  to  make  "an  emperor's  court,"  stood,  as  Hugh 
Peters  described  it?  "  in  its  full  pride,  and  the  enemy 


BASING  HOUSE  253 

was  persuaded  that  it  would  be  the  last  piece  of 
ground  that  would  be  taken  by  the  Parliament."  It 
had  stood  siege  after  siege,  till  the  Royalists  called  it 
Basting  House  ;  and  truly,  so  long  as  it  was  held  for 
the  king,  no  Parliament  man  could  travel  the  western 
roads  in  safety.  The  Marquis  of  Winchester,  to  whom 
it  belonged,  was  a  zealous  Roman  Catholic;  and  to 
Cromwell  it  was  a  nest,  not  only  of  malignants,  but 
of  papists,  a  stronghold  of  darkness,  a  place  of  idols. 

On  the  8th  of  October  1645,  Cromwell  arrived 
before  Basing  with  a  train  of  heavy  artillery.  On  the 
llth  his  batteries  were  in  position,  and  the  garrison 
was  summoned  to  surrender.  If  they  refused  quarter 
now,  on  their  heads  be  it.  No  mercy  would  be 
shown.  The  summons  was  lightly  set  aside.  Lord 
Winchester  would  hold  "Loyalty  House"  to  the 
uttermost. 

At  midnight  on  the  13th,  two  wide  breaches  were 
effected,  and  it  was  resolved  to  storm  the  place  before 
sunrise  on  the  morning  of  the  14th.  The  assault  was 
delivered.  The  defenders  were  too  few  to  resist  the 
storming  parties.  No  quarter  was  asked,  and  none 
given.  "Our  muskets  and  swords,"  says  a  contem- 
porary newspaper,  "  showed  little  compassion."  Great 
was  the  plunder  of  plate  and  jewels,  of  gold  and  silver, 
tapestry  and  rich  attire.  When  Cromwell's  army 
moved  away,  the  defenders  had  been  put  to  the  sword, 
the  altars  thrown  to  the  ground,  the  priests  killed  or 
reserved  for  the  knife  and  the  gallows,  and  Basing 
House  was  a  heap  of  blackened  ashes.  A  grim  com- 
ment on  the  power  of  the  Psalms  follows.  Lieutenant- 
General  Cromwell,  Hugh  Peters  tells  us,  "  had  spent 
much  time  with  God  in  prayer  the  night  before  the 
storm ;  and  seldom  fights  without  some  text  of 


254  THE  PURITANS,  1600-1660 

Scripture  to  support  him.  This  time  he  rested  upon 
that  blessed  Word  of  God,  written  in  the  115th  Psalm, 
verse  8,  They  that  make  them  are  like  unto  them ;  so  is 
every  one  that  trusteth  in  them.  Which,  with  some 
verses  going  before,  was  now  accomplished." 

When  the  war  was  ended,  it  is  still  in  the  same 
strain  that  Cromwell  speaks.  Thus,  in  November 
1648,  he  writes  to  Colonel  Robert  Hammond  : 

"  We  have  not  been  without  our  share  of  beholding 
some  remarkable  providences  and  appearances  of  the 
Lord.  His  presence  hath  been  amongst  us,  and  by 
the  light  of  His  countenance  we  have  prevailed." 

It  was,  again,  in  the  spirit  of  the  sternest  of  the 
Psalms  that  Cromwell  entered  on  the  Irish  War.  He 
is  an  armed  soldier  of  God,  executing  His  judgments 
upon  His  enemies,  terrible  as  death,  relentless  as  doom. 
With  the  sword  in  one  hand  and  his  Acts  of  Parlia- 
ment in  the  other,  he  offers  the  choice  of  disobedience 
and  death,  or  obedience  and  life.  And,  as  Drogheda 
and  Wexford  testified,  his  words  represented  deeds. 

In  July  1650,  the  war  with  Scotland  began.  Charles 
II.  accepted  the  Covenant,  and  with  Buckingham  and 
Wilmot  at  his  side — strange  instruments  for  such  a 
task  —  had  crossed  the  seas  from  Breda  to  be  the 
earthly  representative  of  that  theocracy  which  the 
Scottish  Kirk  desired  to  see  established.  Cromwell, 
returning  from  Ireland,  was  made  Commander  -  in  - 
Chief,  and  sent  to  the  front  to  check  the  threatened 
Scottish  invasion.  It  was  with  a  psalm  in  his  mind 
that  he  set  out  on  his  mission.  A  few  days  before 
his  departure,  he  had  a  strange  interview  with  Colonel 
Edmund  Ludlow,  one  of  the  sternest  of  Republicans. 
Calling  Ludlow  aside  into  a  private  room  at  White- 
hall, he  charged  him  with  a  changed  countenance 


BATTLE  OF  DUNBAR  255 

towards  him,  and  with  suspicions  of  his  objects.  He 
professed  his  readiness  to  sacrifice  his  life  in  the  service 
of  the  people ;  he  declared  that  he  desired  nothing 
better  than  a  "  free  and  equal  Commonwealth  " ;  he 
spoke  at  length  of  the  "  great  providences  of  God  now 
abroad  upon  the  earth."  Then  he  "spent  at  least  an 
hour  in  the  exposition  of  110th  Psalm,"  saying  that 
he  looked  upon  the  design  of  the  Lord  in  that  day  to 
be  the  freeing  of  His  people  from  every  burden,  and 
that  he  himself  was  the  chosen  instrument  for  the 
accomplishment  of  the  events  foretold  in  that  psalm. 

So  Cromwell  set  out,  assured  that  the  Lord  would 
make  His  enemies  His  footstool  that  "  in  the  day  of 
His  wrath  He  would  wound  eveii  kings,"  and  that  He 
would  "judge  among  the  heatheu,"  and  "  fill  the  places 
with  the  dead  bodies."  At  the  r-nd  of  July  he  had 
crossed  the  Border,  and  reached  Musselburgh.  Be- 
tween him  and  Edinburgh  lay  General  David  Leslie, 
3ntrenched  behind  strong  lines,  and  protected  by  the 
runs  of  Edinburgh  and  Leith.  It  was  a  crisis  on  which 
•vere  centred  mighty  interests.  Two  hosts,  each 
Maiming  to  be  the  Lord's  chosen  people,  were  about  to 
>ut  their  claims  to  the  test.  To  which  should  victory 
>e  given  ?  All  Cromwell's  efforts  to  induce  the  Scots 
o  risk  a  battle  were  vain.  Affairs  of  outposts  and 
skirmishes  took  place :  but  day  after  day  Leslie  lay 
iteady  within  his  lines,  while  Cromwell's  provisions 
vere  failing,  and  his  numbers  dwindling  through  sick- 
ress.  Equally  futile  were  Cromwell's  attempts  to  per- 
suade the  Kirk  Commissioners  that  their  cause  was 
unrighteous,  and  that  Charles  Stewart  was  unfit  to 
•ule  over  a  godly  people.  He  received  but  a  curt 
inswer  to  his  appeal,  backed  though  it  was  by  the  con- 
ident  assertion  that  "  before  it  be  long,  the  Lord  will 


256  THE  PURITANS,  1600-1660 

manifest  His  good  pleasure  so  that  all  shall  see  Him, 
and  His  people  shall  say,  *  This  is  the  Lord's  work, 
and  it  is  marvellous  in  our  eyes ;  this  is  the  day  that 
the  Lord  hath  made ;  we  will  rejoice  and  be  glad  in 
it." 

Days  passed;  Cromwell's  provisions  ran  short; 
the  weather  was  wet  and  stormy,  so  that  his  stores 
could  not  be  landed,  and  at  the  end  of  August  he  fired 
his  huts  and  marched  towards  Dunbar,  Leslie  hanging 
on  his  rear  and  keeping  on  the  higher  ground.  Taking 
full  advantage  of  his  superior  knowledge  of  the  country, 
the  Scottish  commander  occupied  the  Doon  Hill,  a  spur 
of  the  Lammermoor  Hills,  standing  forward  from  the 
range  like  a  watch-tower,  and,  seizing  the  Cockburns- 
path,  the  wild  river  chasm  eastward  of  Dunbar,  which 
forms  the  approach  to  Berwick,  thrust  in  his  army 
between  Cromwell  and  the  English  Border.  Here 
then  was  Cromwell  with  a  force  of  11,000  opposed  to 
23,000,  hemmed  in  between  the  hills  and  the  sea,  with 
Scotland  in  his  rear  and  Leslie's  army  in  his  front. 

Cromwell  knew  that  he  was  in  desperate  case. 
"Our  condition,"  he  says,  "was  made  very  sad."  On 
the  2nd  of  September  he  wrote  a  letter,  hastily  folded 
before  the  ink  was  dry,  to  Sir  Arthur  Haslerigg,  the 
Governor  of  Newcastle,  asking  for  aid,  and  bidding 
him  prepare  for  the  worst.  On  the  same  day  on  which 
this  letter  was  written,  Leslie  began  to  move  his  army 
down  from  the  Doon  Hill  to  lower  ground,  from  which 
he  proposed  the  next  morning  to  attack  the  English 
army. 

The  moment  that  Cromwell  saw  this  movement  he 
recognised  the  advantage  which  it  gave  him.  "  The 
Lord  hath  delivered  them  into  our  hands  "  is  the  tradi- 
tional exclamation  that  burst  from  his  lips  as  he  saw 


BATTLE  OF  WORCESTER  257 

his  antagonist  "  shogging  "  down  the  hill.  He  deter- 
mined that  he  would  himself  be  the  assailant  at  sunrise 
on  the  next  morning.  Throughout  the  wet  and  cold 
night  of  Monday  the  2nd,  in  the  storms  of  rain  and 
sleet,  he  made  his  dispositions.  When  at  four  o'clock, 
the  moon  shone  out  through  the  hail-clouds,  all  was 
not  yet  ready.  An  hour  later,  the  trumpets  pealed, 
the  cannon  roared  along  the  line,  and  Cromwell's 
horse  and  foot,  shouting  their  watchword,  "  The  Lord 
of  Hosts,"  burst  upon  the  Scottish  troops,  who, 
stiffened  by  the  cold  and  with  unlighted  matches,  were 
beginning  to  stir  themselves  as  the  twilight  crept 
among  the  shocks  of  corn  where  they  had  bivouacked. 
Here  and  there  the  fight  was  stubborn  ;  Leslie's  horse 
boldly  answered  back  the  English  challenge  with  their 
shout  of  "  The  Covenant."  But  the  position  was  such 
that  the  Scottish  general  could  make  no  use  of  his 
superior  numbers,  and  when,  over  St  Abb's  Head  and 
,he  German  Ocean,  burst  the  rising  sun,  the  gleam 
Irew  from  Cromwell's  lips  the  triumphant  cry,  "  Let 
3rod  arise,  and  let  His  enemies  be  scattered."  The 
lorse  broke  and  fled,  trampling  down  the  undisciplined 
nasses  behind  them ;  the  rout  was  complete.  The 
6  chase  and  execution  "  of  the  fugitives  lasted  for  eight 
niles,  till  the  Lord  General  made  a  halt  in  his  pursuit, 
ind  sang  the  117th  Psalm.  It  was  but  a  brief  respite, 
^ractical  in  his  religion  as  in  all  else,  Cromwell  chose 
he  shortest  Psalm  in  the  book. 

A  year  later,  on  the  same  day  of  the  month, 
September  3rd,  1651,  came  the  "crowning  mercy"  of 
he  battle  of  Worcester.  On  the  enemy,  writes  Crom- 
well to  Mr  Cotton,  of  Boston,  New  England,  the  Lord 
rained  snares,"  so  that  "  of  the  whole  army  of  the 
Scottish  King  and  the  Malignant  party,  not  five  men 


258  THE  PURITANS,  1600-1660 

were  returned.    Surely,"  he  adds,  "  the  Lord  is  greatly 
to  be  feared,  and  to  be  praised." 

In  1653  the  Rump  had  been  expelled,  and  in  their 
place  were  assembled  "divers  persons,  fearing  God, 
and  of  approved  fidelity  and  honesty,"  who  constituted 
the  "Barebones"  Parliament.  On  July  4th,  Crom- 
well, standing  by  the  window  opposite  the  middle  of 
the  table  in  the  centre  of  the  Council  Chamber  of 
Whitehall,  the  officers  of  the  army  ranged  on  his  right 
and  left,  addressed  that  strange  assembly,  every  member 
of  which  was  a  man  in  whom  Cromwell  hoped  to  find 
"faith  in  Jesus  Christ,  and  love  to  all  people  and 
saints."  His  speech  is  loaded  with  references  to  the 
Psalms,  especially  Psalm  ex.  and  Psalm  Ixviii.  He 
hints  that  their  meeting  may  be  "the  door  to  usher 
in  the  things  that  God  has  promised,  which  He  has 
set  the  hearts  of  His  people  to  wait  for  and  expect." 
They  are  "  at  the  edge  of  the  promises  and  prophecies  " ; 
and  then  he  expounds  Psalm  Ixviii.  God  is  bringing 
His  people  out  of  deep  waters ;  He  is  setting  up  the 
glory  of  His  Gospel  Church.  Kings  of  armies  had 
fled,  and  the  spoil  had  been  divided. 

"  And  indeed  the  triumph  of  that  psalm  is  exceed- 
ing high  and  great ;  and  God  is  accomplishing  it.  Anc 
the  close  of  it — that  closeth  with  my  heart,  and  I  dc 
not  doubt  with  yours — 'The  Lord  shaketh  the  hills 
and  mountains,  and  they  reel/  And  God  hath  a  hil 
too ;  an  high  hill  as  the  Hill  of  Bashan ;  and  th( 
chariots  of  God  are  twenty  thousand,  even  thousand* 
of  angels;  and  God  will  dwell  upon  this  hill  foi 


ever ! " 


On  Monday,  September  4th,  in  the  following  yea: 
(1654),  the  Lord  Protector  had  returned  in  state  tc 
Whitehall  from  Westminster  Abbey.  Entering  th< 


THE  PROTECTORATE 

Painted  Chamber,  in  all  the  plenitude  of  his  power, 
he  delivered  a  speech  to  the  assembly.  In  it  he 
enlarged  on  the  stupendous  providences  of  God. 

"As  David,"  he  continues,  "said  in  the  like  case 
(Ps.  xl.,  verse  6),  'Many,  O  Lord  my  God,  are  Thy 
wonderful  works  which  Thou  hast  done,  and  Thy 
thoughts  which  are  to  us-ward;  they  cannot  be 
reckoned  up  in  order  unto  Thee ;  if  I  would  declare 
and  speak  of  them,  they  are  more  than  can  be 
numbered/" 

Once  more.  On  Tuesday,  September  16th,  1656, 
Cromwell  was  reading  the  85th  Psalm  in  Whitehall. 
It  was  the  day  before  the  meeting  of  the  second 
Parliament  of  the  Protectorate.  The  next  day,  with 
the  usual  ceremonies,  Parliament  was  opened,  and  the 
Lord  Protector  addressed  a  speech  to  the  members. 
"Yesterday,"  he  said,  "I  did  read  a  psalm,  which 
truly  may  not  unbecome  both  me  to  tell  you  of,  and 
you  to  observe.  It  is  the  85th  Psalm;  it  is  very 
instructive  and  significant;  though  I  do  but  a  little 
touch  upon  it,  I  desire  your  perusal  and  pleasure." 
Then  he  expounded  to  them  his  vision  of  hope — God's 
will  done  on  earth,  and  England  an  emblem  of  heaven  i/ 
where  God's  will  reigns  supreme.  To  this  work  he 
exhorted  his  Parliament  to  set  their  hearts. 

"And,"  he  says,  "if  you  set  your  hearts  to  it,  then 
you  will  sing  Luther's  Psalm  (xlvi.).  That  is  a  rare 
psalm  for  a  Christian !  and  if  he  set  his  heart  open, 
and  can  approve  it  to  God,  we  shall  hear  him  say, 
'  God  is  our  refuge  and  strength,  a  very  present  help 
in  trouble.'  ...  If  Pope  and  Spaniard,  and  devil  and 
ill,  set  themselves  against  us — yet  in  the  name  of  the 
Lord  we  should  destroy  them !  *  The  Lord  of  Hosts 
is  with  us ;  the  God  of  Jacob  is  our  refuge/  " 


260  THE  PURITANS,  1600-1660 

Two  years  later,  on  Thursday,  September  2nd,  1 658, 
Cromwell  lay  dying.  "He  was  very  restless  most 
part  of  the  night,  speaking  often  to  himself,"  using 
"towards  morning  divers  holy  expressions,  implying 
much  inward  consolation  and  peace."  When  the 
morrow's  sun  rose,  he  was  speechless.  By  three  or 
four  in  the  afternoon  he  lay  dead.  Did  he  strengthen 
himself  with  the  Psalms  for  the  last  battle  of  his 
militant  life?  Were  the  words  which  he  spoke  to 
himself  such  as  these  ? — "  Though  I  walk  through  the 
valley  of  the  shadow  of  death,  I  will  fear  no  evil  ; 
for  thou  art  with  me ;  thy  rod  and  thy  staff  comfort 


me." 


CHAPTER  X 

THE  SCOTTISH   COVENANTERS   AND   THE   REVOLUTION 

OF    1688 

Progress  of  the  Reformation  in  Scotland — George  Wishart,  John 
Knox,  James  Melville ;  the  Solemn  League  and  Covenant 
(1638);  the  restoration  of  Episcopacy  (1661-4);  popular 
discontent — the  Pentland  rising,  Hugh  M'Kail,  Drumclog 
and  Bothwell  Bridge,  Richard  Cameron,  Donald  Cargill,  Baillie 
of  Jerviswood,  Alexander  Peden,  James  Renwick,  the  Wigtown 
Martyrs;  the  Revolution  of  1688  ;  siege  of  Derry  (1689). 

IN  words  of  vehement  hatred,  Patrick  Walker 
iescribed  prelacy  as  "That  old  strumpet  mother 
ind  eldest  beautiful  daughter  of  Antichrist,  with 
which  the  blinded  nations  have  been  and  are  sadly 
oewitched :  but  vile,  vile,  loathsome  and  hateful  in 
,he  eyes  of  all  zealous  serious  godly  in  Scotland,  ever 
dnce  the  Lord  made  light  to  arise  to  see  her  abomina- 
ions."  The  passage  expressed,  with  little  exaggera- 
ion  of  language,  the  feelings  of  the  majority  of  the 
Scottish  people  in  the  seventeenth  century.  The 
latred  of  prelacy  was  not  indeed  shared  by  the 
iristocracy,  nor  had  it  extended  to  the  north  of  Scot- 
and.  But  in  the  Lowlands,  and  among  the  middle 
md  lower  classes,  it  was  as  bitter  as  the  love  of 
3resbyterian  forms  was  deep  and  strong. 

"In  the  year  of  God  1544   .  .  .  came  to  Scot- 

and  that  Blessed  Martyr  of  God,   Master  George 

m 


262  COVENANTERS  AND  THE  REVOLUTION  OF  1688 

Wishart."  So  John  Knox  began  his  story  of  the 
beloved  master,  of  whom  he  speaks  with  a  reverent 
tenderness  that  rarely  comes  to  the  surface  of  his 
independent,  self-reliant  character.  Not  a  few  martyrs 
had  already  suffered  in  Scotland  for  conscience'  sake. 
Even  so  illustrious  a  scholar  as  George  Buchanan 
had  narrowly  escaped  the  clutch  of  Cardinal  Beaton, 
though  the  archbishop's  wrath  was  less  stirred  by 
Buchanan's  Latin  version  of  the  Psalms  than  by  his 
satires  on  clerical  vices.  What  Buchanan  did  in  the 
language  of  scholars,  Sir  David  Lindsay  did  in  homely 
Scotch.  But  the  true  vernacular  poetry  of  the  day  was 
enshrined  in  the  collections  of  "  Spiritual  Sangis,"  in- 
cluding "  the  Psalmes  of  David,  with  uther  new  plesand 
Ballatis."  No  edition  of  the  collected  verses,  which 
are  mainly  the  work  of  three  brothers,  James,  John, 
and  Robert  Wedderburn,  is  known  till  1568.  But 
the  Songs  and  Psalms,  printed  on  separate  sheets,  or 
sung  by  wandering  minstrels,  had  already  circulated 
among  the  people  and  filtered  into  common  know- 
ledge. 

The  way  was  paved  for  the  Reformed  doctrines 
before  Wishart's  arrival  in  Scotland.  But  there  was 
about  him  that  personal  fascination,  which  made  him 
the  leader  of  the  movement,  and  won  him  the  devotion 
of  his  disciple,  John  Knox.  His  tall  figure  and  bearded 
face,  with  his  round  French  hat,  long  frieze  mantle, 
black  doublet  and  hose,  white  falling  bands  and 
cuffs,  soon  became  familiar,  as  he  preached  by  market 
crosses,  at  the  dyke-side  of  Mauchline,  in  private 
houses,  or,  more  rarely,  in  parish  kirks.  He  was 
preaching  in  Kyle  when  "  word  was  brought  that  the 
plague  of  pestilence  was  risen  in  Dundee  .  .  .  and  the 
pest  was  so  vehement,  that  it  almost  passed  credibility, 


GEORGE  WISHART  263 

to  hear  what  number  departed  every  four-and-twenty 
hours."  Hastening  to  the  plague-stricken  city,  Wish- 
art  took  his  station  at  the  East  Port ;  those  that  were 
"  whole  sat  or  stood  within,  and  the  sick  and  suspected 
without  the  Port."  Standing,  as  it  were,  between  life 
and  death,  he  preached  to  the  people  from  Psalm 
cvii.,  verse  20,  "  He  sent  His  word,  and  healed  them," 
and  by  his  words  "  so  raised  up  the  hearts  of  all  that 
heard  him,  that  they  regarded  not  death,  but  judged 
them  more  happy  that  should  depart,  than  such  as 
should  remain  behind." 

Wishart,  already  inhibited  from  preaching,  knew 
that  he  would  not  long  remain  unmolested.  In 
December  1545,  he  had  left  Haddington,  bidding 
Knox  return  to  his  pupils,  and  causing  the  two- 
handed  sword  which  he  carried  to  be  taken  from 
him.  "One  is  sufficient  for  one  sacrifice,"  he  said. 
He  spent  the  night  at  Ormiston  with  the  laird  and 
other  friends.  Supper  ended,  the  company  sang 
together  Psalm  li.  in  Wedderburn's  version : 

"  Have  mercy  on  me  now,  good  Lord, 

After  Thy  great  mercie  ; 
My  sinful  life  does  me  remord, 
Which  sore  has  grieved  me." 

Then  he  passed  to  his  bed-chamber,  with  the  words, 
"  God  grant  quiet  rest."  That  night  he  was  seized  by 
Earl  Bothwell,  and  eventually  carried  to  the  "Sea- 
Tower  of  St  Andrews."  Convicted  of  heresy,  he  was 
burned,  March  1st,  1546,  at  the  foot  of  the  Castle 
Wynd,  opposite  the  castle  gate.  Almost  his  last 
words  were  taken  from  a  psalm.  "When  he  came 
to  the  fire,"  says  Knox,  "  he  sat  down  upon  his  knees, 
and  rose  up  again,  and  thrice  he  said  these  words  :  '  O 


264  COVENANTERS  AND  THE  REVOLUTION  OF  1688 

Thou  Saviour  of  the  world,  have  mercy  upon  me! 
Father  of  Heaven,  I  commend  my  spirit  into  Thy 
holy  hands'"  (Ps.  xxxi.,  verse  6).  As  a  sign  of 
forgiveness  he  kissed  the  executioner  on  the  cheek, 
saying,  "  Lo,  here  is  a  token  that  I  forgive  thee.  My 
harte,  do  thy  office."  So  died  George  Wishart. 

But  for  Wishart's  personal  influence  and  tragic 
death,  it  seems  possible  that  John  Knox,  already  forty 
years  of  age,  and  still  unknown,  might  never  have  taken 
part  in  public  affairs.  A  quarter  of  a  century  later,  in 
November  1572,  the  reformer  of  a  kingdom  was  dying 
in  his  house  at  the  Netherbow  Port  of  Edinburgh. 
As  he  lay,  to  all  appearance  asleep,  he  was  often  heard 
repeating  to  himself  the  words,  "  Come,  Lord  Jesus ; 
sweet  Jesus,  into  Thy  hands  I  commend  my  spirit." 
The  text  from  the  Psalms  was  that  used  by  Wishart. 
But,  in  all  external  circumstances,  the  deaths  of  the 
two  men  were  widely  different.  The  cause  for  which 
Wishart  suffered  had  triumphed.  Knox's  iron  will, 
passionate  eloquence,  and  grim  self-reliance  had  swept 
aside  the  leadership  of  the  sovereign  and  the  nobility. 
He  had  carried  the  people  with  him,  and  Scotland  had 
for  ever  broken  with  Rome. 

One  side  of  Knox's  work  remained  incomplete. 
Episcopacy  was  not  abolished;  for  political  reasons 
it  was  revived.  The  complete  organisation  of  the 
Scottish  Church  was  perfected  on  the  Presbyterian 
model  by  Andrew  Melville  (Second  Book  of  Discipline, 
1581-92).  At  Knox's  death,  indeed,  the  final  triumph 
of  the  Presbyterian  cause  still  seemed  distant  and  un- 
certain. It  was  the  year  of  St  Bartholomew,  and  it 
was  to  the  Psalms  that  men  turned  for  the  expression 
of  their  sorrow.  James  Melville,  a  nephew  of  the 
Presbyterian  leader,  and  at  that  time  passing  through 


JAMES  MELVILLE  265 

his  course  of  philosophy  at  the  University  of  St 
Andrews,  notes  in  his  Diary,  that  "The  primarius 
(James  Wilkie)  a  guid,  peaceable,  sweit  auld  man, 
wha  luiffed  me  weill,  .  .  .  causit  sing,  commownlie  the 
44  and  79  Psalmes,  quhilk  I  lernit  par  cceur,  for  that 
was  the  yeir  of  the  bludie  massacres  in  France,  and 
grait  troubles  in  this  countrey."  Already  the  singing 
of  psalms,  the  only  part  of  ordinary  worship  in  which 
the  people  directly  joined,  was  becoming  popular. 
Melville  has  recorded  their  introduction  in  1570  at 
Montrose.  "The  Lard  of  Done,"  he  says,  "of  his 
charitie  interteined  a  blind  man,  wha  haid  a  singular 
guid  voice ;  him  he  causit  the  doctor  of  our  scholl 
teatche  the  wholl  Psalmes  in  miter,  with  the  tones 
thairof,  and  sing  tham  in  the  Kirk;  be  heiring  of 
whome  I  was  sa  delyted,  that  I  lernit  manie  of  the 
Psalmes  and  tones  thairof  in  miter  quhilk  I  haiff 
thought  ever  sen  syne  a  grait  blessing  and  comfort." 

In  many  of  the  vicissitudes  of  the  struggle,  in 
which  James  Melville  took  a  leading  part,  he  found 
in  the  Psalms  the  best  expression  of  his  emotions. 
The  eight  texts  with  which  his  Diary  begins,  are  all 
taken  from  the  Psalms,  and  in  his  pages  are  recorded 
two  notable  instances  of  their  use.  Among  the 
staunchest  champions  of  the  Presbyterian  cause  was 
John  Durie,  Minister  first  at  Leith,  then  in  Edinburgh. 
He  had  been  suspended  for  his  plain  speaking  against 
the  Duke  of  Lennox.  But  in  1582  he  returned  to  his 
"  awin  flok  of  Edinbruche."  The  whole  town  gathered 
to  meet  him  at  the  Netherbow  Port,  and  "  goeing  upe 
the  streit,  with  bear  heads  and  laud  voices,  sang  to  the 
praise  of  God,  and  testifeing  of  grait  joy  and  consola- 
tion, the  124th  Psalm,  'Now  Israel  may  say,  and  that 
trewlie,'  etc.,  till  heavin  and  erthe  resonndit."  So 


266  COVENANTERS  AND  THE  REVOLUTION  OF  1688 

determined  was  the  attitude  of  the  vast  concourse  of 
people,  that  the  duke,  when  he  heard  the  noise  and 
saw  the  crowd,  tore  his  beard  for  anger,  and  hastened 
out  of  the  city.  Two  years  later,  Melville  himself  was 
a  fugitive,  flying  for  his  life.  By  yet  another  change 
in  the  struggle,  he  was,  in  1585,  enabled  to  return 
to  Scotland.  As  he  and  his  fellow-exiles  reached 
Alnwick  on  their  homeward  journey,  rejoicing  that 
the  "  bountifull  and  gratius  hand  of  our  God  was  with 
us,"  they  were  many  times  constrained  to  sing  Psalm 
cxxvi.,  "  When  the  Lord  turned  again  the  captivity 
of  Sion,"  and  other  psalms  of  the  same  character. 

Neither  of  the  Melvilles  died  in  Scotland.  Andrew 
Melville  died  at  Sedan,  James  at  Berwick.  But,  as, 
during  his  troubled  life,  James  Melville  had  found  in 
the  Psalms  the  expression  of  his  sorrow,  his  gratitude, 
or  his  triumph,  so,  at  the  moment  of  death,  they 
brought  him  their  message  of  strength  and  courage. 
The  pain  of  his  disease  was  "  wonderfull  vehement " ; 
yet  he  was  content,  thinking  "  of  the  sight  of  the  face 
of  God  in  glorie;  rehearsing  that  verse  of  the  16th 
Psalm  (verse  12),  '  Thow  wilt  schaw  me  the  pathe  of 
lyffe ;  in  thy  sicht  are  fulness  of  all  joyes,  at  thy  right 
hand  is  the  plentie  of  pleasures  for  evir/ '  As  the 
pain  and  weakness  increased,  he  "  comforteth  himselff 
with  sundrie  speeches  out  of  the  Psalmes,  quhilk  he 
rehearsit  in  Hebrew;  as,  nameli  ane  speich  out  of 
Psalm  4th  (verse  7),  '  Lord  lift  up  the  lyght  of  thy 
countenance  upon  me.'  Psalm  27th,  verse  1,  '  The 
Lord  is  my  light  and  my  salvatione,  quhat  can  I  fear  ? ' 
Psalm  23rd  (verse  4),  'Albeit  I  walkit  through  the 
valley  of  the  shadow  of  death,  yet  will  I  fear  none 
evill,  because  God  is  with  me/  The  candell  being 
behind  his  bak,  he  desyred  that  it  should  be  brought 


THE  NATIONAL  COVENANT  267 

before  him,  that  he  might  sie  to  die.  Be  occasionne 
quhairof  that  pairt  of  the  Scripture  wes  rememberit, 
'  Light  aryses  to  the  righteous  in  the  middes  of  dark- 
nes  '  (Psalm  cxii.,  verse  4) ;  and  Psalm  xviii.,  verse 
28,  'The  Lord  will  lighten  my  candell;  He  will 
inlighten  my  darknes.' " 

In  spite,  and  partly  in  consequence,  of  the  effort 
of  James  I.  to  re-establish  Episcopacy,  and  to  assimi- 
late the  Church  in  Scotland  with  that  in  England,  the 
Presbyterian  Kirk,  with  its  General  Assembly,  had 
become  the  organ  of  the  Scottish  people,  its  Parlia- 
ment, its  press,  its  platform,  and  something  more.  It 
was  their  "  Mount  Zion  in  Jerusalem,"  the  "joy  of  the 
whole  earth,"  the  "city  of  the  great  King."  When, 
therefore,  in  1637,  Charles  I.  attempted  to  introduce  a 
book  of  Canons  and  a  Liturgy  framed  on  the  English 
model,  he  outraged  some  of  the  deepest  feelings  of  the 
nation.  A  wave  of  excitement  swept  over  Scotland. 
Thrilled  with  solemn  enthusiasm,  the  people  had 
witnessed  the  signature  of  the  National  Covenant  on 
the  last  day  of  February  1638,  in  the  Greyfriars  Church 
of  Edinburgh.  Eallying  to  the  cry  of  "  Christ's  Crown 
and  Covenant,"  disciplined  by  the  genius  of  Alexander 
Leslie,  and  obeying  the  "old  little  crooked  soldier," 
as  if  he  were  "the  Great  Soleyman"  himself,  the 
Covenanters  easily  wrung  from  Charles  I.  the  con- 
cession of  all  their  demands.  The  "  blue  banner  "  had 
triumphed.  But  Scottish  liberties  were  still  in  peril, 
if  the  king  prevailed  against  the  English  Parliament. 
In  1643,  the  Solemn  League  and  Covenant  bound  the 
Presbyterians  of  the  North  and  the  Puritans  of  the 
South  in  a  firm  alliance  to  root  out  popery  and  prelacy 
from  the  three  kingdoms. 

The  House  of  Stuart  was  slow  to  take  warning 


268  COVENANTERS  AND  THE  REVOLUTION  OF  1688 

from  experience.  On  May  29th,  1660,  Charles  II.  was 
restored  to  the  throne,  and  the  dark  times  swept  over 
Scotland  with  one  giant  stride.  While  the  guns 
roared  from  the  castle  of  Edinburgh,  to  celebrate 
the  national  thanksgiving,  Donald  Cargill  foretold 
Charles's  future  from  the  pulpit.  "Whoever  of  the 
Lord's  people,"  he  said,  "are  this  day  rejoicing,  their 
joy  will  be  like  the  crackling  of  thorns  under  a  pot ; 
he  will  be  the  woefullest  sight  that  ever  the  poor 
Church  of  Scotland  saw.  Wo,  wo,  wo  to  him  ;  his 
name  shall  stink  while  the  world  stands,  for  treachery, 
tyranny,  and  leach ery."  Thus  began,  in  mingled  joy 
and  foreboding,  "  that  never  to  be  forgotten  unheard- 
of  twenty-eight  years  of  reigning  tyrants,  and  raging 
tyranny  of  Prelatical  Protestants  upon  Presbyterian 
Protestants." 

CarguTs  predictions  were  soon  verified.  The 
"Drunken  Parliament"  of  1661  imposed  a  new  oath 
of  allegiance  to  the  sovereign  as  supreme  over  all 
persons  and  in  all  causes,  exacted  it  from  all  ministers 
presented  to  benefices,  pronounced  assemblies  to  be 
unlawful,  prohibited  the  renewal  of  the  Solemn  League 
and  Covenant,  and,  by  an  "  Act  Recissory,"  repealed 
the  whole  legislation  of  Scotland  for  the  past  twenty 
years.  In  the  following  year  Episcopacy  was  estab- 
lished in  Scotland,  and  James  Sharp,  who  was  acting 
in  London  as  agent  for  the  Presbyterian  ministers, 
was  ordained,  and  consecrated  Archbishop  of  St 
Andrews.  The  ballad-mongers  of  the  day  expressed 
the  popular  detestation  of  the  new  primate's 
treachery : 

'  Most  viper-like,  I  in  the  Kirk 
My  mother's  bowels  rent ; 
And  did  cast  out  those  zealous  men 
Whose  money  I  had  spent." 


RESTORATION  OF  EPISCOPACY  269 

Nor  were  Sharp's  colleagues  men  of  high  reputation ; 
with  the  single  exception  of  Leighton,  who  was  wont 
to  say  that  the  Psalter  should  lie  like  myrrh  in  the 
human  heart.  From  these  bishops,  all  ministers  who 
had  entered  on  their  livings  since  1649  were  to  receive 
collation;  those  who  refused  to  do  so  were  to  be 
ejected.  Bather  than  submit  to  episcopal  rule  and 
the  revival  of  patronage,  nearly  four  hundred  ministers 
gave  up  their  churches  and  houses.  Their  places 
were  filled  by  curates,  "  mostly  young  men  from  the 
northern  parts,  raw,  and  without  any  stock  of  reading 
or  gifts."  Most  of  the  "  outed  "  ministers  had  endeared 
themselves  to  their  flocks  by  years  of  faithful  service. 
The  parting  of  Welsh,  for  instance,  from  the  people  of 
Irongray,  described  by  Blackader,  himself  an  eye- 
witness of  the  scene,  shows  the  hold  which  men  of  his 
character  had  gained  on  the  hearts  of  their  congrega- 
tions. "There  was,"  he  says,  "great  sorrowing  and 
outcrying  of  the  poor  multitude  beside  the  water  of 
Cluden,  when  he  (Welsh)  was  to  take  horse.  It  was 
with  great  difficulty  he  got  from  among  them,  who  were 
almost  distracted,  and  cried  most  ruefully,  with  tears. 
But  he  being  resolute,  would  not  be  detained ;  and  after 
two  or  three  of  the  ministers  had  knelt  down  and 
prayed,  he  got  to  horse,  the  people  still  holding  him. 
The  ministers  and  he  rode  quickly  through  the  water, 
to  win  from  among  them ; — many,  both  men  and 
women,  brak  in  on  foot  after  him,  and  followed 
on  the  road  a  good  space,  with  bitter  weeping  and 
lamentation." 

The  example  quoted  does  not  stand  alone.  Con- 
gregations, as  a  rule,  remained  faithful  to  their  former 
pastors.  Dispossessed  ministers,  though  banished 
from  their  parishes,  held  their  services  in  the  neigh- 


270  COVENANTERS  AND  THE  REVOLUTION  OF  1688 

bourhood :  the  field-meetings  were  thronged,  the 
churches  deserted.  Determined  to  effect  their  object, 
the  Government  framed  another  Act  (1663),  familiarly 
known  as  the  "Bishops7  Drag  Net."  Ministers  who 
preached  without  episcopal  sanction,  parishioners  who 
were  absent  from  "the  ordinary  meetings  of  divine 
worship,  in  their  own  parish  church  on  the  Lord's 
Day,"  were  guilty  of  seditious  acts,  punishable  by 
fines  and  imprisonment.  Soldiers,  drafted  into  the 
south  and  west  of  Scotland  to  compel  attendance  at 
public  worship  according  to  Episcopalian  forms, 
quartered  themselves  upon  the  recusants,  and  were 
encouraged  in  every  violence  and  license.  To  enforce 
the  legislation  "  for  the  peace  and  order  of  the  Church, 
and  in  behalf  of  the  Government  thereof  by  arch- 
bishops and  bishops,"  a  Court  of  High  Commission 
was  appointed  (1664).  Before  this  tribunal  were 
summoned  hundreds  of  persons,  scarcely  one  of 
whom  escaped  punishment,  whether  by  fines,  brand- 
ing, scourging,  imprisonment,  or  exile.  The  Court 
called  before  it  whom  it  chose,  heard  no  argu- 
ments, asked  few  questions,  and  almost  always 
condemned.  It  was  compared  to  the  lion's  den, 
into  which  led  many  tracks,  but  from  which  none 
returned. 

Throughout  the  Lowlands,  discontent  deepened 
and  widened,  till,  goaded  to  desperation,  the  people 
rose  in  arms.  Their  open  resistance  in  the  field  was 
short-lived.  But,  for  twenty-five  years,  they  main- 
tained an  unequal  struggle  against  overwhelming  odds, 
defending  their  convictions  with  a  constancy  which 
has  been  rarely  equalled  in  history.  Whatever  were 
the  faults  of  the  "Hill  Folk,"  the  "Wild  Whigs,"  the 
"Remnant,"  or  the  " Cameronians,"  their  tenacity  of 


INSPIRATION  OF  POPULAR  MOVEMENT      271 

purpose  in  suffering,  danger,  and  death,  commands 
the  admiration  of  those  who  most  strongly  condemn 
them  as  narrow  and  exclusive.  The  Lowland  peasant 
is  justly  proud  of 

"  The  tales 

Of  persecution  and  the  Covenant 
Whose  echo  rings  through  Scotland  to  this  hour." 

As  with  the  Cevenols,  so  with  the  Covenanters. 
The  Psalms  were  the  inspiration  of  a  popular  move- 
ment. To  the  strained  senses  of  the  peasantry  were 
manifested  signs  of  the  future.  Mysterious  apparitions 
disturbed  the  solitude  of  the  moors  unearthly  chant- 
ings  of  the  Psalms  broke  their  silence.  On  "  Clyde 
side,  east  of  Glasgow,"  a  shadowy  throng  of  men  and 
women  seemed  to  gather  round  a  tent,  and  Psalm 
xciii.  was  chanted  with  such  celestial  sweetness  that 
all  who  heard  the  strains  stood  motionless  till  they 
were  ended.  Thus  were  revealed  the  future  triumphs 
of  field-conventicles.  "  At  Craigmad,  between  Falk- 
hill  and  Moranside,"  the  hills  were  crowded  with 
ghostly  worshippers,  who  were  singing  Psalm  cxxi., 
and  among  them  appeared  a  milk-white  horse,  with  a 
blood-red  saddle  on  its  back.  Thus  were  portended 
the  preaching  of  the  Gospel  and  the  persecution  that 
was  to  follow.  When  the  crisis  came,  it  was  with  a 
psalm  that  the  Covenanters  faced  General  Dalzell  at 
Bullion  Green.  With  a  psalm,  they  routed  Claver- 
house  at  Drumclog.  Supported  by  a  psalm,  Hugh 
M'Kail,  Donald  Cargill,  James  Eenwick,  Isabel 
Alison,  Marion  Harvie,  Margaret  Wilson,  and  a  host 
of  other  heroes  and  heroines  of  the  Covenant,  met 
torture  or  a  violent  death.  The  Psalms  were  the 
daily  support  of  the  charmed  life  of  Alexander  Peden. 
They  cheered  the  captives  on  the  Bass  Eock  or  in  the 


272  COVENANTERS  AND  THE  REVOLUTION  OF  1688 

dungeons  of  Dunottar,  and  solaced  their  weary 
imprisonment.  It  was  the  Psalms,  again,  that 
encouraged  others  to  endure  a  still  harder  fate,  as 
they  toiled  in  exile  and  slavery  among  the  rice-fields 
and  sugar  plantations  of  the  New  World.  True  to 
the  spirit  of  the  Covenanters,  Scott  has  embodied  in 
his  novels  the  influence  of  the  Psalms.  It  was  a 
psalm  that  nerved  Mause  Headrigg  to  leap  her  horse 
over  the  wall  (Ps.  xviii.,  verse  29) :  it  was  a  psalm 
(xxxvii.,  verses  16,  25)  that  the  daughter  of  a  Cove- 
nanter, Jeanie  Deans,  marked  with  her  "  kylevine  pen  " 
for  her  lover,  Keuben  Butler,  on  the  eve  of  her 
adventurous  journey  to  plead  for  her  sister's  life :  it 
was  a  psalm  (xlii.,  verses  14,  15 ;  and  xliii.,  verses  5,  6) 
that  she  repeated  in  her  hour  of  peril,  when  she 
was  at  the  mercy  of  desperate  ruffians  on  Gunnerby 
Hill. 

Armed  resistance  began  with  the  Pentland  Eising 
in  November  1666.  The  "honest  zealous  handful," 
as  Patrick  Walker  calls  them,  involved  in  an  accidental 
scuffle  with  the  soldiers  at  Dairy,  near  Dumfries, 
drifted,  without  plan  or  leaders,  into  insurrection.  At 
Lanark,  as  they  marched  towards  Edinburgh,  they 
were  1500  strong.  But  only  a  few  were  armed  with 
swords,  pistols,  or  muskets;  scythes,  forks,  staves, 
were  the  weapons  of  the  rest.  Closely  followed  by 
Dalzell  at  the  head  of  3000  well-appointed  troops, 
struggling  through  snow-drifts,  spent  with  hunger 
and  fatigue,  disappointed  of  help  from  the  Lothians, 
they  staggered  back  from  Edinburgh  into  the 
Pentland  Hills.  Their  numbers  had  dwindled  to 
900  men.  At  Rullion  Green  they  were  attacked 
by  Dalzell's  troops.  Hopelessly  overmatched,  they 
yet  made  a  gallant  fight.  Chanting  their  despair- 


HUGH  M'KAIL  273 

ing  appeal  to  God  in  the   words  of  Psaim  Ixxiv., 

"  O  God,  why  hast  Thou  cast  us  off? 

Is  it  f     evermore  ? 
Against  Thy  pasture-sheep  why  doth 
Thine  anger  smoke  so  sore  ?  " 

they  met  and  defeated  a  charge  of  the  enemy's  horse. 
It  was  not  till  dusk  that  they  were  finally  dispersed. 
Of  the  prisoners,  some  were  executed,  some  im- 
prisoned, some  shipped  to  the  plantations.  The  grave 
of  those  who  were  killed  in  the  fight  is  marked  by  a 
stone,  inscribed  with  rugged  lines  beginning  thus : 

"  A  cloud  of  witnesses  lie  here 
Who  for  Christ's  interest  did  appear,"  etc.,  etc. 

Among  the  victims  of  the  vengeance  which  the 
Government  executed  upon  the  insurgents  was  Hugh 
M'Kail,  a  young  man  of  twenty- six,  the  prototype  of 
Scott's  MacBriar.  Well  connected  and  well  educated, 
he  is  supposed  to  have  incurred  the  personal  hatred 
of  the  primate,  to  whom  he  had  given  the  name  of 
Judas.  Appeals  to  save  his  life  were  made  in  vain. 
Tortured  in  the  boot — yet  forgetting  his  shattered 
leg,  as  he  jestingly  said,  in  fear  for  his  neck — he 
solaced  his  imprisonment  by  writing  Latin  elegiacs. 
Under  sentence  of  death,  it  was  in  the  Psalms  that 
he  found  strength.  On  the  evening  before  his  execu- 
tion in  the  Grassmarket,  he  read  Psalm  xvi.,  "  Pre- 
serve me,  O  God,  for  in  Thee  have  I  put  my  trust." 
The  next  day,  December  22nd,  1666,  at  two  o'clock  in 
the  afternoon,  he  was  carried  to  the  scaffold.  There 
he  sang  part  of  Psalm  xxxi.,  including  the  sixth  verse, 
using  the  old  metrical  rendering  : 

"  Into  Thy  hands  I  do  commit 

My  spirit ;  for  Thou  art  He, 
O  Thou,  Jehovah,  God  of  truth, 
Who  hast  redeemed  me." 

8 


274  COVENANTERS  AND  THE  REVOLUTION  OF  1688 

Inspired  by  the  same  words  which  in  the  moment  of 
death  had  sustained  generations  of  the  hated  "  Papists 
and  Prelatists,"  he  broke  into  the  impassioned  anthem 
of  triumph,  often  repeated  or  imitated  by  .his  fellow- 
sufferers.  "  Now  I  leave  off  to  speak  any  more  to 
creatures,  and  turn  my  speech  to  Thee,  O  Lord !  Now 
I  begin  my  intercourse  with  God,  which  shall  never 
be  broken  off.  Farewell  father  and  mother,  friends 
and  relations !  farewell  the  world  and  all  delights ! 
farewell  meat  and  drink !  farewell  sun,  and  moon,  and 
stars !  Welcome  God  and  Father !  Welcome  sweet 
Jesus  Christ,  the  Mediator  of  the  New  Covenant! 
Welcome  blessed  Spirit  of  grace,  God  of  all  consola- 
tion !  Welcome  glory !  Welcome  eternal  life !  Wel- 
come death ! " 

With  the  execution  of  Hugh  M'Kail,  the  Govern- 
ment seemed  satisfied.  For  some  months  after  the 
suppression  of  the  Rising,  moderate  counsels  prevailed. 
But  gradually,  as  the  necessity  of  crushing  field-con- 
venticles seemed  more  urgent,  the  persecution  grew 
hotter.  The  country  was  devastated.  "  It  was  better," 
said  Lauderdale,  "that  the  West  bore  nothing  but 
windle-straws  and  laverocks  than  that  it  should  bear 
rebels  to  the  king."  Preachers  and  hearers  alike  were 
dogged  by  spies.  Death  was  the  penalty  for  preaching ; 
fines,  imprisonment,  transportation,  slavery,  were  the 
punishments  inflicted  upon  hearers.  The  remotest 
caves  and  dens  of  the  upland  districts  of  Galloway, 
Nithsdale,  Ayr,  and  Clydesdale,  were  tenanted  by 
hunted  ministers.  There  lurked  gaunt  "Wanderers," 
in  whose  eyes  gleamed  the  grey  light  which  flickers  on 
the  borders  of  enthusiasm  and  madness— with  one 
hand  gripping  the  hilts  of  their  shabbies,  with  the 
other  clasping  their  Bibles  to  their  bosoms.  Their 


THE  WESTERN  WHIGS  275 

surrender  of  their  souls  into  God's  keeping  was 
absolute,  their  realisation  of  His  Presence  vivid  and 
intense,  their  conviction  of  the  justice  of  their  cause 
so  absorbing  as  to  foster,  not  the  serenity,  but  the 
fatalism  of  religion.  As  they  pored  over  the  Scriptures, 
alone  in  the  wild  solitudes  of  nature,  stung  by  memories 
of  wrong,  in  daily  expectation  of  torture  and  death, 
confronted  by  dispensations  of  Heaven  which  hourly 
seemed  more  frowning  and  mysterious,  their  faith  grew 
savage  in  its  earnestness,  vindictive  in  its  zeal,  dark 
with  gloomy  superstition.  Their  preaching  soared 
into  ecstatic  utterance,  and  all  the  surroundings 
of  field-worship  heightened  its  effect.  By  day  the 
gathering  mist,  by  night  the  fall  of  darkness  or  the 
solemn  starry  skies,  the  monotonous  solitude  of  the 
moors  running  up  into  labyrinths  of  rolling  hills, 
the  silence  broken  only  by  the  melancholy  cry  of 
the  plover,  the  armed  sentries  posted  on  the  hills, 
the  imminjnce  of  ever-present  danger — attuned  the 
minds  of  their  hearers  to  rhapsodies  of  faith, 
calls  to  penitence,  experiences  of  Satanic  agency, 
bursts  of  prophecy,  fierce  denunciations  of  ven- 
geance. 

In  his  "Night-hymn  of  the  Cameronians,"  Moir 
lays  stress  on  the  characteristic  confidence  in  God's 
protection,  which  field-conventicles  held  under  such 
conditions  naturally  encouraged : 

"  Ho !  plaided  watcher  of  the  hill, 
What  of  the  night  ?  what  of  the  night  ? 

The  winds  are  lown,  the  woods  are  still, 
The  countless  stars  are  sparkling  bright ; 
From  out  this  heathery  moorland  glen, 

By  the  shy  wild-fowl  only  trod, 

We  raise  our  hymn,  unheard  of  men, 

To  Thee — an  omnipresent  God. 


276  COVENANTERS  AND  THE  REVOLUTION  OF  1688 

w  Jehovah  !  though  no  sign  appear, 
Through  earth  an  aimless  path  to  lead, 

We  know,  we  feel,  Thee  ever  near, 
A  present  help  in  time  of  need — 
Near,  as  when,  pointing  out  the  way, 

For  ever  in  the  people's  sight, 
A  pillared  wreath  of  smoke  by  day, 
Which  turned  to  fiery  flame  at  night." 

Etc.,  etc. 

The  murder  of  Archbishop  Sharp  on  Magus  Moor 
(May  3rd,  1679)  gave  the  signal  for  a  renewal  of  the 
open  struggle  between  the  Covenanters  and  the 
Government.  Fresh  enactments  were  directed  against 
Conventicles.  But  "the  Whigs,"  says  Wandering 
Willie,  "were  as  doure  as  the  Cavaliers  were  fierce." 
At  Drumclog,  on  June  1st,  1679,  a  field-conventicle 
was  surprised  by  the  approach  of  Claverhouse  himself. 
The  sentry  gave  the  alarm  by  the  discharge  of  his 
musket ;  the  armed  men  drew  out  from  the  congre- 
gation of  hearers,  and,  as  they  moved  down  the  hill 
to  meet  the  dragoons,  raised  their  challenge  to  the  foe 
in  the  words  of  Psalm  Ixxvi. : 

"  In  Judah's  land  God  is  well  known, 

His  name's  in  Israel  great ; 
In  Salem  is  his  tabernacle ; 
In  Zion  is  his  seat. 

tt  There  arrows  of  the  bow  he  brake, 

The  shield,  the  sword,  the  war, 
More  glorious  thou  than  hills  of  prey, 
More  excellent  art  far." 

The  struggle  was  soon  over.  The  dragoons  broke 
and  fled.  Claverhouse  himself,  "proof  against  lead," 
was  saved  by  his  gallant  roan,  which  carried  him  off 
the  field,  though  its  "guts  hung  out  half  an  ell,"  from 
a  pitchfork  thrust  in  its  belly.  The  Covenanters 


DRUMCLOG  AND  BOTHWELL  BRIDGE       277 

spared  the  lives  of  their  prisoners.  But  this  mercy 
was  condemned  by  Sir  Robert  Hamilton,  who  urged 
them  to  give  no  quarter  to  Babel's  brats,  and  supported 
his  advice,  like  Calvin,  by  quoting  Psalm  cxxxvii., 
verses  8,  9.  In  this  same  leniency,  Patrick  Walker 
finds  a  reason  for  the  ultimate  failure  of  the  Covenant- 
ing cause : 

"After  the  Lord,"  so  he  writes,  "gave  us  the 
victory  over  Clavers  and  his  party  at  Drumclog,  anno 
1679,  we  behaved  not  as  persons  that  were  fighting 
the  Lord's  battles  :  but,  instead  of  pursuing  the  victory 
that  God  wonderfully  put  in  our  hands,  and  sanctify- 
ing the  Lord  of  Hosts  in  our  hearts  and  before  the 
people  by  giving  Him  the  praise,  did  greedily  run 
upon  the  spoil,  and  took  some  of  the  enemy  prisoners, 
and  gave  them  quarter,  tho'  guilty  of  death,  and  so 
brought  ourselves  under  the  curse  of  doing  the  work 
of  the  Lord  deceitfully,  by  withholding  our  sword 
from  shedding  of  their  blood ;  and  yet  we  refused  to 
be  convinced  that  our  sparing  of  the  lives  of  these, 
whom  God  has  appointed  to  utter  destruction,  is  one 
of  the  causes  why  our  lives  go  for  theirs." 

The  insurrection  which  had  flamed  up  so  suddenly 
was  extinguished  at  Bothwell  Bridge,  June  22nd,  1679. 
The  battle  was  fought  on  Sunday,  and,  forty  miles 
distant,  Peden's  hearers  waited  for  a  sermon.  "Let 
the  people,"  he  said,  "go  to  their  prayers ;  for  me,  I 
neither  can  nor  will  preach  any  this  day;  for  our 
friends  are  fallen  and  fled  before  the  enemy  at  Hamil- 
town ;  and  they  are  hagging  and  hashing  .them  down, 
and  their  blood  is  running  like  water."  No  effort  was 
again  made  by  the  Covenanters  to  put  an  armed  force 
into  the  field.  But  their  spirit  remained  unbroken. 
Their  resistance,  indeed,  assumed  a  more  determined 


278  COVENANTERS  AND  THE  REVOLUTION  OF  1688 

form.  A  year  to  the  day  after  Bothwell  Bridge, 
twenty  armed  horsemen  rode  into  Sanquhar,  formed 
a  circle  round  the  market  cross,  and  two  of  their 
number,  Richard  and  Michael  Cameron,  dismounted. 
A  psalm  was  sung,  a  prayer  offered,  and  a  "  Declara- 
tion" read  disowning  Charles  II.  as  a  tyrant  and 
usurper,  and,  "  under  the  standard  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  Captain  of  our  salvation,  declaring  war  upon 
the  king."  Henceforward  there  could  be  no  turning 
back,  either  for  the  Government  or  for  the  "  Remnant " 
who  approved  the  Declaration,  which  renounced 
allegiance  to  the  king,  defied  his  laws,  and  proclaimed 
the  forfeiture  of  his  throne. 

Richard  Cameron  did  not  long  survive  his 
audacious  act.  On  July  18th,  1680,  he  preached  his 
last  sermon,  "upon  the  Kype-ridge  in  Clidsdale," 
choosing  for  his  text  Psalm  xlvi.,  verse  10,  "Be  still, 
then,  and  know  that  I  am  God."  Four  days  later, 
Thursday,  July  22nd,  he  and  his  companions  were 
hiding  "  in  the  east  end  of  Airs-moss,  a  very  desert 
place,"  when  they  were  surprised  by  Bruce  of  Earls- 
hall,  with  120  men,  well-armed  and  mounted.  The 
Covenanters  resisted  stoutly.  Richard  Cameron  was 
killed.  His  head  and  hands,  "hagged  off  with  a 
dirk,"  and  thrown  into  a  sack,  were  carried  to  Edin- 
burgh to  be  fixed  upon  the  City  Port.  They  were 
first  shown  to  Cameron's  father,  then  a  prisoner  at 
the  Tolbooth,  and  he  was  asked  if  he  knew  to  whom 
they  belonged.  The  old  man,  kissing  the  brow  of  his 
fair-haired  son,  said,  "  I  know  them,  I  know  them : 
they  are  my  son's,  my  dear  son's."  Then,  with  the 
same  submission  to  God's  judgment  which,  nine 
centuries  earlier,  was  shown  by  the  Emperor  Maurice, 
in  words  which  recall  Psalm  xxiii.,  verse  6,  he 


DONALD  CARGILL  279 

added,  "  It  is  the  Lord  ;  good  is  the  will  of  the  Lord, 
who  cannot  wrong  me  nor  mine,  but  has  made  good- 
ness and  mercy  to  follow  us  all  our  days." 

Cameron's  successor  in  the  leadership  of  the 
stricter  Covenanters,  or  Cameronians,  was  Donald 
Cargill,  according  to  Wodrow,  the  only  remaining 
preacher  at  field-conventicles.  He  had  taken  part  in 
the  Sanquhar  Declaration.  Now,  in  September,  1680, 
at  Torwood,  he  had  publicly  excommunicated  the  king, 
the  Duke  of  York,  the  Duke  of  Monmouth,  and 
others.  He  was  a  marked  man.  A  reward  of  5000 
marks  was  set  on  his  head  as  a  "most  seditious 
preacher,"  and  a  "  villainous  and  fanatical  conspirator." 
His  escapes  were  narrow,  both  on  foot  and  on  horse- 
back. But  one  of  his  hearers  remarked  to  him  that 
when  his  danger  was  sorest,  then  he  preached  and 
prayed  his  best.  He  replied  by  saying,  half  to  him- 
self, as  was  his  habit,  "  The  Lord  is  my  strength  and 
song,  and  is  become  my  salvation "  (Ps.  cxviii.,  verse 
14).  At  last,  July  llth,  1681,  he  was  captured,  and 
hurried,  his  legs  tied  hard  under  his  horse's  belly,  to 
Glasgow,  and  thence  to  Edinburgh.  While  in  prison 
he  wrote  a  letter  to  James  Skene,  the  closing  sentence  of 
which  contains  a  metaphor  now  familiar  to  the  world 
through  Tennyson's  lines.  "  The  God  of  mercies,"  he 
writes,  "  grant  you  a  full  gale  and  a  fair  entry  into 
His  kingdom,  which  may  carry  sweetly  and  swiftly  over 
the  bar,  that  you  find  not  the  rub  of  death."  He  was 
executed  at  the  Cross  of  Edinburgh,  July  27th,  1681. 
On  the  scaffold  he  sang  his  favourite  psalm,  Psalm 
cxviii.,  from  the  16th  verse  to  the  end ;  and  his  last 
words  were,  "  Welcome  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost ! 
Into  Thy  hands  I  commend  my  spirit." 

As,  one  by  one,  his  companions  were  killed  or 


280  COVENANTERS  AND  THE  REVOLUTION  OF  1688 

captured,  Alexander  Peden  (1626-86)  alone  seemed 
to  bear  a  charmed  life.  He  is  the  Prophet  of  the 
Covenant,  and,  in  some  respects,  its  most  romantic 
figure.  Ejected  in  1663  from  his  Galloway  parish, 
outlawed  for  his  complicity  in  the  Pentland  Rising, 
imprisoned  on  the  Bass  Rock  (1673-7),  banished  to 
Virginia,  and  conveyed  on  the  outward  voyage  to 
London,  where  he  was  for  some  unknown  reason 
liberated,  he  spent  his  remaining  years  in  Ireland  or 
Scotland,  "going,"  as  he  says,  "from  the  one  bloody 
land  to  the  other  bloody  land."  Dogged  by  spies,  and 
hunted  by  dragoons,  he  yet  died  in  his  bed.  A  man 
of  great  personal  strength  and  activity,  his  escapes 
were  so  hairbreadth  as  to  seem  miraculous.  Peden 
himself  would  have  been  at  no  loss  for  an  explanation. 
So  long  as  God  had  work  for  him,  no  harm  could 
befall  him.  Dogs  snuffed  at  the  entrance  of  the  cave 
in  which  he  was  hiding,  and  still  he  was  not  discovered. 
Soldiers  stabbed  the  beds  or  heaps  of  unthreshed  corn 
under  which  he  lay  concealed ;  yet  they  touched  him 
not.  Through  bogs,  in  which  his  pursuers  were 
drowned,  he  knew  and  found  the  path  of  safety. 
Once,  as  he  lay  under  a  bank,  a  dragoon's  horse 
grazed  his  head  with  his  hoof,  pinning  his  bonnet  deep 
into  the  clay,  and  leaving  him  uninjured.  In  his  mind 
the  words,  "  Snow  and  vapours,  wind  and  storm,  ful- 
filling His  word"  (Ps.  cxlviii.,  verse  8),  were  ever 
present;  and,  again  and  again,  the  Lord  heard  his 
prayer,  and  answered  him  in  the  day  of  his  distress. 
Escaping  to  Scotland  from  Carrickfergus  with  a 
number  of  fellow-sufferers,  his  boat  was  becalmed  and 
in  danger  of  capture.  "  Waving  his  hand  to  the  west, 
from  whence  he  desired  the  wind,  he  said,  '  Lord,  give 
us  a  loof-full  of  wind ;  fill  the  sails,  Lord,  and  give  us 


ALEXANDER  PEDEN  281 

a  fresh  gale,  and  let  us  have  a  swift  and  safe  passage 
over  to  the  bloody  land,  come  of  us  what  will.'" 
Before  he  ended  his  prayer,  the  flapping  sails  filled 
like  blown  bladders,  and  he  and  his  comrades  were 
saved.  More  than  once  a  mist,  gathering  at  his 
prayer,  hid  him  from  pursuit.  On  one  occasion,  horse 
and  foot  chased  him  so  closely  that  escape  seemed 
hopeless.  If  God  saved  them  not,  he  and  his  com- 
panions were  dead  men.  "  Then  he  began  and  said, 
'  Lord,  it  is  Thy  enemies'  day,  hour,  and  power ;  twine 
them  about  the  hill,  Lord,  and  cast  the  lap  of  Thy 
cloak  o'er  old  Sandy  and  thir  (these)  poor  things,  and 
save  us  this  one  time  ;  and  we'll  keep  it  in  remem- 
brance, and  tell  it  to  the  commendation  of  Thy  good- 
ness, pity,  and  compassion,  what  Thou  didst  for  us  at 
such  a  time.":  And,  as  he  prayed,  the  mist  covered 
the  hills  and  the  fugitives. 

In  all  his  wanderings  and  escapes,  the  Psalms  were 
to  him  a  perennial  source  of  strength.  Patrick  Walker 
relates  that  he  had  "preached  in  a  shield  or  sheep- 
house  in  a  desert  place,"  upon  a  Sabbath  night. 
"  When  ended,  he  and  those  that  were  with  him  lay 
down  in  the  sheep-house,  and  got  some  sleep  :  he  rose 
early,  and  went  up  to  the  burn- side  and  stayed  long  : 
when  he  came  in  to  them,  he  did  sing  the  32nd  Psalm, 
from  the  7th  verse  to  the  end;  when  ended,  he 
repeated  the  8th  verse  : 

'  Thou  art  my  hiding-place,  thou  shalt 

From  trouble  keep  me  free ; 
Thou  with  songs  of  deliverance 
About  shalt  compass  me  * ; 

"saying,  'These  and  the  following  are  sweet  lines, 
which  I  got  at  the  burn-side  this  morning,  and 
we'll  get  mo  to-morrow,  and  so  well  get  daily  pro- 


282  COVENANTERS  AND  THE  REVOLUTION  OF  1688 

vision  :  He  was  never  behind  with  any  that  put  their 
trust  in  Him,  and  He  will  not  be  in  our  common,  nor 
none  who  needily  depends  on  Him ;  and  so  we  will  go 
on  in  His  strength,  making  mention  of  His  righteous- 
ness and  of  His  only/  ' 

A  deep  vein  of  melancholy  traversed  Peden's 
mind.  Yet  his  sympathy,  tenderness,  and  racy  humour 
light  up,  like  glints  of  sunshine,  the  gloom  of  his  fore- 
bodings of  judgment.  His  pithy  sayings  bear  his  own 
hall-mark ;  his  keen  insight  into  human  nature  made 
his  nicknames  stick  like  burrs.  His  intense  realisa- 
tion of  God's  abiding  presence  and  fatherly  care  bred 
in  him  a  filial  familiarity  ;  yet  never,  in  its  simplest  or 
homeliest  expressions,  does  his  language  lose  a  natural 
dignity.  Men  so  constituted  by  nature,  so  moulded 
by  the  circumstances  of  their  times,  so  fashioned  by 
their  own  manner  of  life,  have  not  only  the  tempera- 
ment, but  the  training  of  the  seer.  The  visions  of 
Peden's  fervent  faith,  painted  with  all  the  force  of  his 
picture-making  imagination,  were  received  with  awe 
by  his  hearers,  who  trembled  at  the  strange  verification 
of  his  predictions. 

Two  specimens  of  his  preaching,  both  given  by 
Walker,  may  be  quoted.  In  both,  the  text  is  taken 
from  the  Psalms.  The  first  illustration  is  from  the 
year  1682,  when  Peden  "was  in  Kyle,  and  preaching 
upon  that  text,  '  The  plowers  plowed  upon  my  back, 
and  drew  long  their  furrows '  (Ps.  cxxix.,  verse  3) ; 
where  he  said,  *  Would  you  know  who  first  yoked  this 
plough  ?  It  was  cursed  Cain,  when  he  drew  his 
furrows  so  long  and  so  deep,  that  he  let  out  the  heart- 
blood  of  his  brother  Abel  .  .  .  and  that  plough  has 
and  will  gang  summer  and  winter,  frost  and  fresh- 
weather,  till  the  world's  end ;  and  at  the  sound  of  the 


PEDEN'S  PREACHING  283 

last  trumpet,  when  all  are  in  a  flame,  their  theats 
(traces)  will  burn,  and  their  swingle-trees  will  fall  to 
the  ground ;  the  plow-men  will  lose  their  grips  of  the 
plough,  and  the  gade-men  will  throw  away  their  gades ; 
and  then,  O  the  yelling  and  skreeching  that  will  be 
among  all  his  cursed  seed,  clapping  their  hands,  and 
crying  to  hills  and  mountains  to  cover  them  from  the 
face  of  the  Lamb  and  of  Him  that  sits  upon  the  throne, 
for  their  hatred  of  Him  and  malice  at  His  people  ! ' ' 

The  second  illustration  belongs  to  the  year  1685, 
when  he  was  "  preaching  in  the  night-time,  in  a  barn 
at  Carrack,  upon  that  text,  Psalm  Ixviii.,  1,  2,  'Let 
God  arise,  and  let  His  enemies  be  scattered ;  let  them 
also  that  hate  Him  flee  before  Him.  As  smoke  is 
driven,  so  drive  thou  them ' ;  so  insisting  how  the 
enemies  and  haters  of  God  and  godliness  were  tossed 
and  driven  as  smoke  or  chaff,  by  the  wind  of  God's 
vengeance  while  on  earth,  and  that  wind  would  blow 
and  drive  them  all  to  hell  in  the  end ;  stooping  down, 
there  being  chaff  among  his  feet,  he  took  a  handful  of 
it,  and  said,  '  The  Duke  of  York,  the  Duke  of  York, 
and  now  King  of  Britain,  a  known  enemy  of  God  and 
godliness;  it  was  by  the  vengeance  of  God  that  he 
ever  got  that  name ;  but  as  ye  see  me  throw  away 
that  chaff,  so  that  the  wind  of  vengeance  shall  blow 
and  drive  him  off  that  throne ;  and  he,  nor  no  other 
of  that  name  shall  ever  come  on  it  again/ ' 

Throughout  the  last  few  years  of  Peden's  life  the 
severity  of  the  Government  towards  the  Cameronians 
increased,  till  it  culminated  in  the  "  Killing  Times  "  of 
1684-5.  Their  bold  repudiation  of  the  king's  authority, 
coupled  with  their  declaration  that  his  throne  was 
forfeited,  was  a  political  danger  which  could  not  be 
ignored.  Revolution  was  in  the  air.  A  popular  party 


284  COVENANTERS  AND  THE  REVOLUTION  OF  1688 

was  forming  both  in  England  and  Scotland,  and 
the  Government,  making  the  Eye  House  Plot  their 
plea,  struck  hard  against  its  leaders,  as  well  as  against 
the  Cameronians. 

On  the  purely  political  side,  Baillie  of  Jerviswood, 
the  "Algernon  Sydney  of  Scotland,"  was  one  of  the 
first  and  most  important  victims.  Condemned  to 
death  on  December  24th,  1684,  he  was  hanged  the 
same  afternoon  at  the  market  cross  of  Edinburgh, 
with  all  the  attendant  barbarities  of  an  execution  for 
high  treason.  His  property  was  confiscated  and  for- 
feited to  the  Crown.  Yet  even  in  his  last  hours, 
oppressed  by  mortal  sickness,  hourly  expecting  his 
sentence,  he  felt,  as  he  told  his  son,  that  God's 
promises  were  sure,  and  that  the  "testimony  of 
David  "  would,  in  his  case  also,  be  verified.  "  I  have 
been  young,  and  now  am  old,  and  yet  saw  I  never  the 
righteous  forsaken,  nor  his  seed  begging  their  bread  " 
(Ps.  xxxvii.,  verse  25). 

The  last  of  the  Cameronians  who  suffered  on  the 
scaffold  was  James  Eenwick,  though  his  sentence  was 
due  rather  to  his  political  tenets  than  to  his  religious 
opinions. 

Among  the  crowd  who  had  witnessed  CarguTs 
execution  in  the  Grassmarket  of  Edinburgh,  was  a  lad 
of  nineteen,  the  son  of  a  Nithsdale  weaver.  The  lad 
was  James  Kenwick.  So  stirred  was  he  by  the 
scene,  that  he  cast  in  his  lot  with  the  persecuted 
remnant  of  the  Cameronians.  Ordained  to  the  ministry 
after  six  months  study  at  Groningen,  he  returned  to 
Scotland,  and  began  to  preach  in  October  1683.  On 
his  shoulders,  young  though  he  was,  rested  the  burden 
of  the  struggle.  The  spirit  which  he  threw  into  his 
work  is  revealed  by  a  passage  from  one  of  his  letters 


JAMES  RENWICK  285 

from  Holland.  "  Courage  yet ! "  he  writes,  "  for  all 
that  is  come  and  gone.  The  loss  of  men  is  not  the 
loss  of  the  cause.  What  is  the  matter  though  we  all 
fall?  The  cause  shall  not  fall."  Thus  inspired, 
Renwick  speedily  became  the  soul  of  the  movement 
among  the  Cameronian  Societies,  who  disowned  the 
king,  and  declared  war  against  him  as  the  subverter 
of  the  religion  and  liberty  of  the  nation. 

During  the  "  Killing  Times  "  vigorous  search  was 
made  for  Renwick.  But  he  evaded  capture,  and  it 
was  not  till  January  1688  that  he  was  taken.  On 
him  were  found  the  notes  of  his  last  two  sermons, 
one  of  which  was  on  Psalm  xlvi.,  verse  10,  "Be  still, 
then,  and  know  that  I  am  God :  I  will  be  exalted 
among  the  heathen,  and  I  will  be  exalted  in  the 
earth."  He  was  charged  with  denying  the  authority 
of  King  James  VII.,  teaching  the  unlawfulness  of 
paying  the  tax  called  "  cess,"  and  exhorting  the  people 
to  carry  arms  at  field-meetings.  The  charges  were 
admitted,  and  he  was  sentenced  to  death.  On 
February  17th,  1688,  he  was  executed  at  the  Grass- 
market  in  Edinburgh.  More  than  once  his  words 
were  drowned  by  drums.  But  he  sang  a  part  of  Psalm 
ciii.,  the  psalm  which  was  always  chanted  by  "the 
Saints  "  at  the  celebration  of  the  Sacrament ;  and,  as 
he  was  turned  over  the  ladder,  his  last  words  were 
"  Lord,  into  Thy  hands  I  commend  my  spirit ;  for 
Thou  hast  redeemed  me,  O  Lord,  Thou  God  of  truth  " 
(Ps.  xxxi.,  verse  6).  The  same  text,  in  whole  or  in 
part,  was  quoted  by  more  than  half  of  the  great  army 
of  "witnesses  "  who  suffered  on  the  scaffold,  between 
Hugh  M'Kail  in  1666  and  James  Renwick  in  1688. 
Nearly  all  of  them,  like  John  Nisbet,  died  "  protesting 
against  and  disowning  Popery  in  all  its  superstitions 


286  COVENANTERS  AND  THE  REVOLUTION  OF  1688 

and  bloody  bigotry,  and  Prelacy  the  mother  of  Popery" ; 
and  yet,  in  the  moment  of  their  death,  they  committed 
their  souls  to  God  in  the  same  words  which  were  con- 
secrated by  their  use  on  the  lips  of  hundreds  of  Roman 
Catholic  and  Anglican  martyrs. 

Nor  was  it  only  on  the  scaffold  that  men  died. 
There  were  many  murders  which  were  not  even 
judicial.  On  January  1st,  1685,  for  example,  Daniel 
McMichael  was  led  out  into  the  fields  to  be  shot,  and 
died  singing  part  of  Psalm  xlii.  In  the  following 
February,  Alexander  McRobin  was  hanged  upon  an 
oak  tree  near  the  Kirk  of  Irongray.  At  the  tree-foot, 
a  friend  asked  him  if  he  had  any  word  to  send  to  his 
wife.  "  I  leave  her  and  the  two  babes  upon  the  Lord," 
answered  MeE/obin,  "  and  to  His  promise  :  a  father  to 
the  fatherless,  and  a  husband  to  the  widow,  is  the 
Lord  in  His  holy  habitation"  (Ps.  Ixviii.,  verse  5). 
And  so  he  died,  as  Wodrow  records,  "  in  much  com- 
posure and  cheerfulness."  In  the  parish  of  Ingliston 
was  a  cave,  which  had  been  a  place  of  safety  to  not  a 
few  of  the  Covenanters.  On  April  29th,  1685,  guided 
by  a  traitor,  the  soldiers  were  brought  to  the  mouth 
of  the  cave,  where  they  seized  five  of  the  wanderers 
who  had  found  refuge  in  its  shelter.  John  Gibson, 
who  alone  was  permitted  to  pray  before  he  was  shot, 
sang  part  of  Psalm  xvii.,  telling  his  mother  and  sister 
that  it  was  the  joy  fullest  day  of  his  life.  The  rest 
were  shot,  "  without  being  allowed  to  pray  separately." 

Nor  were  the  women  spared.  In  January  1681, 
two  "  honest,  worthy  lasses,"  as  Peden  calls  them, 
Isabel  Alison  and  Marion  Harvie,  were  hanged  at 
Edinburgh.  On  the  scaffold  they  sang  together,  to  the 
tune  of  "Martyrs,"  Psalm  Ixxxiv.  "Marion,"  said 
Bishop  Paterson,  "you  would  never  hear  a  curate; 


THE  WIGTOWN  MARTYKS  287 

now  you  shall  hear  one,"  and  he  called  upon  one  of 
his  clergy  to  pray.  "Come,  Isabel,"  was  the  girl's 
answer — she  was  but  twenty  years  of  age — "let  us 
sing  the  23rd  Psalm,"  and  thus  they  drowned  the 
voice  of  the  curate. 

No  execution  of  the  time  was  more  universally 
condemned  than  that  of  these  two  women.  A  roughly- 
drawn  picture  of  the  scene,  with  the  title  "Women 
hanged,"  is  prefixed  to  the  first  edition  of  the  Hind 
Let  Loose  (1687).  By  its  side  is  another  engraving, 
which  represents  "The  Wigtown  Martyrs,  drowned 
at  stakes  at  sea." 

In  1684,  the  Cameronian  Societies  had  answered 
the  renewed  violence  of  the  Government  by  their 
Apologetical  Declaration.  In  this  document,  posted 
on  the  doors  of  parish  churches  and  on  market 
crosses,  they  declared  war  on  the  Government  and 
its  supporters,  "disowned  the  authority  of  Charles 
Stewart  and  all  authority  depending  upon  his,"  and 
warned  their  assailants  that  they  would  meet  force  by 
force.  In  reply,  the  authorities  devised  an  oath  of 
abjuration,  which  was  framed  as  a  test,  and  imposed 
on  all  who  were  suspected  of  belonging  to  the  Societies 
or  of  hostility  to  the  Government.  In  April  1685,  a 
commission,  sitting  at  Wigtown,  condemned  Margaret 
Maclachlan  or  McLauchlison,  an  elderly  widow  of 
sixty,  and  Margaret  Wilson,  a  girl  of  eighteen,  who 
refused  to  abjure  the  Apologetical  Declaration.  They 
were  sentenced  to  be  "  tied  to  stakes  fixed  within  the 
flood-mark  in  the  Water  of  Blednoch,  near  Wigtown, 
where  the  sea  flows  at  high  water,  there  to  be 
drowned."  The  sentence  was  carried  out,  probably 
not  with  the  sanction  of  the  Government,  on  May 
llth,  1685. 


288  COVENANTERS  AND  THE  REVOLUTION  OF  1688 

Twice  a  day,  up  the  deep  channel  of  the  sluggish 
Blednoch,  fringed  by  steep  and  sloping  mudbanks, 
sweeps  the  yellow  tide  of  the  sea.  Stakes  were  set  in 
the  ooze  of  the  tideway,  to  which  the  two  women  were 
bound.  The  elder  woman,  Margaret  Maclachlan,  was 
set  lower  down  the  river,  that  the  younger  sufferer 
might  see  her  struggles,  and  her  course  finished,  before 
she  herself  was  reached  by  the  rising  sea.  Pitying  her 
youth,  the  executioners  tried  to  save  Margaret  Wilson. 
As  the  water  swirled  about  her  body,  she  was  drawn 
to  the  edge  of  the  bank,  and  offered  her  life,  if  she 
would  say,  "  God  save  the  king,"  and  take  the  test. 
She  was  ready  to  say,  "  May  God  save  the  king,  if  He 
will,"  for  she  desired,  she  said,  the  salvation  of  all 
men :  but  she  would  not  forswear  her  faith,  or  take 
the  test.  So  she  was  once  more  secured  to  the  stake, 
and  left  to  her  fate.  With  her  fresh  young  voice,  as 
the  salt  waves  curled  above  her  breast  and  all  but 
touched  her  lips,  she  sang  the  25th  Psalm : 

"  My  sins  and  faults  of  youth 
Do  Thou,  O  Lord,  forget ; 
After  Thy  mercies,  think  on  me, 
And  for  Thy  goodness  great " ; 

and  so  continued  singing  till  her  voice  was  choked  in 
the  rising  tide. 

The  political  principle,  on  which  the  Cameronians 
founded  their  resistance  to  the  king,  was,  that  the 
throne  had  been  forfeited,  and  was  vacant.  It  was 
not  long  before  that  principle  became  a  corner-stone 
of  the  Constitution.  On  November  5th,  1688,  William 
of  Orange  cast  anchor  at  Torbay,  pledged  to  support 
the  Protestant  faith.  He  landed  exactly  a  century 
after  the  Spanish  Armada,  and  on  the  anniversary  of 


WILLIAM  OF  ORANGE  AT  TORBAY          289 

the  Gunpowder  Plot.  As  a  sign  of  his  mission,  the 
debarkation  of  the  troops  was  treated  as  a  religious 
solemnity.  No  sooner  were  the  soldiers  on  shore, 
than  divine  service  was  conducted  by  William  Car- 
stares  ;  and  before  they  encamped,  the  troops,  standing 
along  the  beach,  sang  Psalm  cxviii.,  "  O  give  thanks  - 
unto  the  Lord,  for  He  is  gracious ;  because  His  mercy 
endureth  for  ever." 

But  the  success  of  the  Kevolution  was  not 
assured  so  long  as  Ireland  was  held  for  King  James. 
"  Oh  secure  Ireland  ! "  cried  Alexander  Peden  in  1685, 
"a  dreadful  day  is  coming  upon  thee  within  a  few 
years,  so  that  they  shall  ride  many  miles  and  not  see  a 
reeking  house  in  thee  :  Oh  hunger !  Hunger  in  Deny ! 
Many  a  black  and  pale  face  shall  be  in  thee."  The 
defence  of  Deny  became  one  of  the  turning-points 
in  the  struggle.  It  saved  Ireland  for  King  William ; 
and  it  was  the  prelude  to  his  victory  at  the  Boyne 
(July  1st,  1690). 

The  importance  of  the  city  as  a  military  and  naval 
stronghold  was  clearly  recognised.  In  December  1688, 
Antrim's  regiment,  described  by  a  contemporary  as 
"a  pack  of  ruffians,"  many  of  "whose  captains  were 
well  known  to  the  citizens,  having  lain  in  their 
jails  for  thefts  and  robberies,"  was  sent  to  garrison 
Londonderry  for  King  James.  On  the  7th  of  the 
month,  the  soldiers  were  seen  crossing  the  river  and 
approaching  the  Ferry  Gate  of  Londonderry.  Acting 
on  the  impulse  of  the  moment,  a  number  of  young  men 
ran  to  the  main  guard,  sword  in  hand,  seized  the  keys, 
drew  up  the  bridge,  and  locked  the  gate  in  the  face  of 
the  soldiers.  When  news  of  this  revolt,  as  it  was 
called,  reached  Dublin,  Lord  Mountjoy  was  sent  to 
reduce  the  citizens  to  submission.  Without  arms, 

T 


290  COVENANTERS  AND  THE  REVOLUTION  OF  1688 

ammunition,  or  provisions,  Londonderry  made  the 
best  terms  it  could.  Two  companies  of  Protestant 
soldiers,  commanded  by  Colonel  Lundy,  himself  a 
Protestant,  were  admitted  as  a  garrison  for  King 
James.  So  matters  rested  for  some  three  months. 
But  on  March  20th,  1689,  William  and  Mary  were 
proclaimed  king  and  queen  at  Londonderry  with 
great  joy  and  solemnity.  The  city  had  thrown  in  its 
fortunes  with  the  Revolution  and  the  Protestants 
against  James  and  the  Roman  Catholics. 

Vigorous  efforts  were  at  once  made  by  Lord 
Tyrconnel,  the  Lord  Lieutenant,  to  regain  possession 
of  the  city  for  his  master.  As  James's  army 
approached,  the  Protestants  oc  the  North  of  Ireland 
fled  to  Londonderry  for  refuge.  Within  the  walls, 
cowardice  and  treachery  were  at  work.  Lundy  and 
his  officers  escaped  to  the  ships  in  Lough  Foyle,  and 
left  the  city  to  its  fate. 

Deserted  by  their  leaders,  the  garrison  chose  the 
Rev.  George  Walker  and  Major  Baker  to  be  their 
governors,  and  prepared  to  hold  the  city  against  the 
forces  of  King  James.  Surrounded  by  a  numerous 
army,  with  no  leaders  experienced  in  war,  imper- 
fectly armed,  without  engineers  to  instruct  them  in 
their  defence,  without  trenching  tools,  "  without  Fire 
Works,  not  so  much  as  a  Hand  Granado  to  annoy  the 
Enemy,"  with  but  few  guns  well  mounted  in  the 
town,  with  30,000  mouths  to  feed,  and,  as  was  esti- 
mated, with  only  ten  days'  provision  for  them,  the 
position  seemed  desperate.  There  was  truth  in  the 
comparison  which  Walker  makes  in  his  Diary,  when 
he  likens  the  lot  of  the  citizens  of  Derry  to  that  of 
"the  Israelites  at  the  Red  Sea."  But  the  first  care  of 
the  defenders  was,  to  quote  again  his  words,  "to 


SIEGE  OF  DERRY  291 

recommend  ourselves  and  the  Cause  we  undertook  to 
the  Protection  and  Care  of  the  Almighty;  for  we 
might  then  truly  say,  with  the  Church  in  the  Liturgy, 
*  There  is  none  other  that  fighteth  for  us,  but  only 
Thou,  O  God/" 

The  siege  lasted  from  April  17th,  to  July  olst. 
Closely  pressed  by  the  besiegers,  harassed  by  their 
continuous  fire,  threatened  by  their  mines  which  were 
pushed  close  to  the  walls,  the  citizens  held  their 
ground  with  singular  courage  and  resolution.  Women 
played  their  part  in  the  defence  by  the  side  of  the  men. 
Not  only  did  they  bring  up  the  match  and  ammunition, 
and  serve  out  bread  and  drink  to  the  soldiers  on  the 
walls,  but  they  beat  back  an  attack  of  the  enemy  with 
the  stones  which  had  been  torn  up  from  the  streets  to 
deaden  the  effect  of  the  bombs.  Treachery  and  mutiny 
were  Walker's  daily  dread.  His  honesty,  as  matters 
grew  more  and  more  desperate,  was  called  in  question. 
Deserters  every  day  passed  into  the  camp  of  the 
enemy,  carrying  intelligence  of  the  straits  to  which  the 
garrison  was  reduced.  Provisions  ran  short.  Horses, 
dogs,  cats,  rats,  and  mice  were  eaten.  Except  the 
men,  women,  and  children,  hardly  a  living  thing  was 
to  be  found  within  the  walls.  They  had  no  fuel  left 
with  which  to  cook.  Their  food  was  tallow,  meal, 
and  salted  hides,  herbs  and  weeds.  Water  was  their 
drink,  and  that  was  scarce,  and  only  obtained  with 
difficulty  and  danger.  A  wet  season  added  to  the 
misery  of  the  citizens,  who  in  their  half-starved  condi- 
tion fell  easy  victims  to  the  diseases  that  it  fostered. 
As  though  to  mock  their  hopes  with  disappointment, 
a  fleet  of  thirty  sail  was  discovered  in  the  Lough  on 
June  14th.  It  was  the  force  sent  for  the  relief  of  the 
garrison.  But  across  the  channel  the  besiegers  had 


292  COVENANTERS  AND  THE  REVOLUTION  OF  1688 

thrown  a  boom.  Major-General  Kirke  did  not  attempt 
to  force  the  passage,  but  sailed  away,  sending  a 
messenger  to  Walker  in  the  beleaguered  city,  promising 
succour,  and  bidding  the  citizens  "  Be  good  husbands 
of  your  Victuals." 

Yet  the  resolution  of  Walker,  whose  colleague  was 
dead,  and  of  the  mass  of  the  citizens,  remained  firm. 
When  the  enemy  delivered  an  assault,  the  starving 
soldier,  who  had  fallen  under  the  weight  of  his  musket 
as  he  went  to  the  walls,  stood  gallantly  to  his  post, 
though  his  face  was  blackened  with  hunger,  till  the 
attack  was  repelled.  "  I  am  sure,"  writes  Hunter  in  his 
Diary,  "  it  was  the  Lord  that  kept  the  city,  and  none 
else,  for  there  were  many  of  us  that  could  hardly 
stand  on  our  feet  before  the  enemy  attacked  the  walls, 
who,  when  they  were  assaulting  the  out-trenches,  ran 
out  against  them  most  nimbly  and  with  great  courage. 
Indeed,  it  was  never  the  poor  starved  men  that  were 
in  Deny  that  kept  it  out,  but  the  mighty  God  of 
Jacob,  to  whom  be  praise  for  ever  and  ever,  Amen." 

On  the  28th  of  July,  the  fighting  force  of  the  garri- 
son had  dwindled  from  7361  men  to  4300,  and  of  these 
fully  a  quarter  were  unfit  for  service  owing  to  sickness, 
famine,  or  wounds.  Still  Walker  and  his  officers  clung 
to  their  post  with  the  tenacity  of  despair.  "The 
Governor,  finding  in  himself,"  says  Walker  in  his 
Diary,  "still  that  confidence,  that  God  would  not 
(after  so  long  and  miraculous  a  Preservation)  suffer 
them  to  be  a  Prey  to  their  Enemies,  preaches  in  the 
Cathedral,  and  encourages  their  Constancy,  and  en- 
deavours to  establish  them  in  it,  by  reminding  them 
of  several  Instances  of  Providence  given  them  since 
they  first  came  into  that  Place,  and  of  what  con- 
sideration it  was  to  the  Protestant  Religion  at  this 


THE  GOVERNOR'S  SERMON  293 

time;  and  that  they  need  not  doubt,  but  that  God 
would  at  last  deliver  them  from  the  Difficulties  they 
were  under." 

The  sermon  is  still  in  existence.  Never  were  words 
spoken  to  people  in  sorer  need  of  consolation  and  en- 
couragement, and  it  is  from  the  Psalms  that  they  are 
chiefly  drawn.  With  strange  power  must  the  verses 
have  come  home  to  the  crowd  of  starving  men  and 
women  who  listened  to  the  preaching  of  their 
governor.  "Let  but  the  Lord  arise,"  says  holy 
David,  "  and  His  enemies  shall  be  scattered."  (And 
again),  "  God  is  our  refuge  and  strength,  a  very  present 
help  in  trouble.  Therefore  will  we  not  fear  though 
the  earth  be  moved,  and  though  the  mountains  be 
carried  into  the  midst  of  the  sea ;  though  the  waters 
thereof  roar  and  be  troubled  "  (Ps.  xlvi.,  verses  1,  2, 
3).  ...  "Considering  the  deliverance  wrought  for 
the  besieged  city  of  Samaria,  as  for  Jerusalem  by  the 
destruction  of  Sennacherib's  host,  holy  David  says, 
to  comfort  himself  and  his  people,  viz.,  'The  Lord 
of  hosts  is  with  us ;  the  God  of  Jacob  is  our  refuge. 
Come,  behold  the  works  of  the  Lord,  what  desolation 
He  hath  made  upon  the  earth.  He  maketh  wars  to 
cease  unto  the  end  of  the  earth  :  He  breaketh  the  bow, 
and  knappeth  the  spear  in  sunder,  and  burneth  the 
chariot  in  the  fire.  Be  still,  and  know  that  I  am  God  : 
I  will  be  exalted  among  the  heathen,  I  will  be  exalted 
in  the  earth.  The  Lord  of  Hosts  is  with  us ;  the  God 
of  Jacob  is  our  refuge'3  (Ps.  xlvi.,  verses  7-11). 
Gideon,  Deborah,  and  Barach  were  instruments  in 
the  hand  of  God.  "  So  that  we  see,"  continues  the 
preacher,,  "that  God  confounds  strength  with  weak- 
ness ;  for  when  men  presume  too  much  on  the  arm  of 
flesh,  they  frequently  deceive  themselves,  and  in  the 


294  COVENANTERS  AND  THE  REVOLUTION  OF  1688 

midst  of  their  security  are  overthrown.  Therefore 
let  a  good  Christian  consider  that  his  strength  is  in 
the  Lord.  And  if  God  hear  his  side,  he  need  not 
be  afraid  though  danger  beset  him  round  about,  but 
be  comforted  and  made  valiant  by  the  words  of  the 
kingly  prophet,  '  The  Lord  is  my  light  and  my  salva- 
tion ;  whom  then  shall  I  fear  ?  The  Lord  is  the  strength 
of  my  life ;  of  whom  then  shall  I  be  afraid  ?  When  the 
wicked,  even  mine  enemies  and  my  foes,  came  upon 
me  to  eat  up  my  flesh,  they  stumbled  and  fell.  Though 
a  host  should  encamp  against  me,  my  heart  shall  not 
fear ;  though  war  shall  arise  against  me,  in  this  will  I 
be  confident ' "  (Ps.  xxvii.). 

"  It  was  always  well,"  he  says,  "  with  the  seed  of 
Jacob  when  they  clave  fast  to  the  Rock  of  their 
Salvation.  But  when  they  grew  regardless,  He  gave 
them  up  to  the  oppressing  nations,  who  grieved  His 
chosen  Heritage,  for  it  is  said  (Ps.  xviii.),  *  With  the 
merciful  Thou  wilt  show  Thyself  merciful.  And  with 
an  upright  man,  Thou  shalt  show  Thyself  upright  ; 
with  the  pure  Thou  shalt  show  Thyself  pure ;  with 
the  forward  Thou  shalt  show  Thyself  forward.  For 
Thou  wilt  save  the  afflicted  people,  but  wilt  bring 
down  high  looks/ ' 

"There  is  nothing,"  he  concludes,  "too  hard  for 
the  Lord,  when  He  designs  to  bring  about  His  pur- 
poses. *  I  called  upon  the  Lord  in  my  distress  (says 
holy  David.)  The  Lord  answered  me,  and  set  me  in 
a  large  place.  The  Lord  is  on  my  side.  I  will  not 
fear  what  man  can  do  unto  me.  The  Lord  taketh  my 
part  with  them  that  help  me,  therefore  shall  I  see  my 
desire  upon  them  that  hate  me.  It  is  better  to  trust 
in  the  Lord,  than  to  put  any  confidence  in  princes.  All 
nations  compassed  me  round  about,  but  in  the  name 


RELIEF  OF  DERRY  295 

of  the  Lord  will  I  destroy  them '  (Ps.  cxviii.).  .  .  .  Let 
us  take  courage,  then,  and  faint  not,  but  acquit  your- 
selves like  men." 

Sunday,  July  28th,  1689,  was  a  memorable  day. 
"It  was,"  says  Ash,  "a  day  to  be  remembered  with 
thanksgiving  by  the  besieged  of  Deny  as  long  as  they 
live,  for  on  this  day  we  were  delivered  from  famine 
and  slavery  With  the  former  they  were  threatened 
if  they  staid  here,  and  the  latter  if  they  went  away  or 
surrendered  the  garrison." 

Ships  were  seen  in  the  Lough,  and  were  recognised 
as  the  vessels  which  Kirke  had  promised  to  send  to 
their  relief.  A  favourable  wind  blew  from  the  north- 
east ;  the  Protestant  wind,  as  the  Dutch  sailors  called 
it,  which  had  wafted  William  to  the  English  coast  and 
blew  in  the  teeth  of  James.  The  flag  on  the  cathedral 
tower  was  twice  struck,  and  eight  guns  were  fired,  in 
order  that  the  ships  might  know  that  the  garrison 
were  at  their  last  gasp,  and  that  "  if  they  came  not 
now,  they  might  stay  away  for  ever."  The  fleet 
answered  with  six  guns,  which  the  besieged  under- 
stood to  mean  that  an  attempt  would  be  made  that  day. 

About  five  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  the  wind  and 
tide  serving,  three  ships  hoisted  sail,  and  entered  the 
river.  The  Dartmouth,  a  frigate  commanded  by 
Captain  Leake,  acted  as  convoy  to  the  Mountjoy  of 
Derry,  Captain  Micaiah  Browning,  commander,  and 
the  Phoenix  of  Coleraine,  Captain  Andrew  Douglas, 
master,  both  laden  with  provisions.  From  each  side 
of  the  river  the  besiegers  opened  a  brisk  fire  upon  the 
advancing  vessels.  OS  Culmore  Point,  a  musket-shot 
from  the  fort,  the  Dartmouth  anchored,  and  cannonaded 
the  castle,  diverting  its  fire  from  the  merchant  ships. 
The  Mountjoy,  followed  by  the  Phoenix,  sailed  past 


296  COVENANTERS  AND  THE  REVOLUTION  OF  1688 

the  fort,  and,  proceeding  up  the  river,  reached  the 
boom.  She  struck  it  with  such  force  as  to  break  it, 
but  the  recoil  drove  her  aground,  for  the  wind  had 
dropped,  and  she  had  not  way  enough  to  carry  her 
past  the  obstruction.  The  smoke  from  the  guns  was 
so  thick  that  the  garrison,  watching  anxiously  from 
the  walls  of  Deny,  could  not  see  what  had  happened. 
But  the  triumphant  shouts  of  the  enemy,  "  the  most 
dreadful  to  the  besieged  that  ever  we  heard,"  the 
increased  firing,  and  the  preparations  to  board  the 
grounded  vessel,  told  to  the  starving  citizens  the  mis- 
fortune of  the  Mountjoy.  "  Our  trouble  is  not  to  be 
expressed  at  this  dismal  prospect,"  says  Walker.  It 
"  struck,"  writes  Mackenzie,  another  of  the  garrison, 
"  such  a  sudden  terror  into  our  hearts,  as  appeared  in 
the  blackness  of  our  countenances."  Succour  was 
at  their  doors,  yet  could  not  enter. 

But  the  commander  of  the  Mountjoy,  himself  a 
native  of  Derry,  and  carrying  help  to  his  fellow-towns- 
men, was  not  disheartened.  "  He  stood  upon  the 
deck  with  his  sword  drawn,  encouraging  his  men  with 
great  cheerfulness."  Loading  his  guns  with  "part- 
ridge shot,"  he  fired  a  broadside  which  scattered  his 
assailants.  It  did  more.  The  shock  loosened  his 
vessel ;  the  rising  tide  floated  her,  and  carried  her 
past  the  boom.  At  the  very  moment  of  his  triumph, 
he  was  shot  through  the  head.  But  Derry  was  saved. 
By  ten  o'clock,  both  ships  were  at  the  quay,  "to  the 
inexpressible  joy  and  transport  of  our  distressed 
garrison,  for  we  only  reckoned  upon  two  days'  life,  and 
had  only  nine  lean  horses  left,  and  among  us  all  one  pint 
of  meal  to  each  man."  The  siege  was  practically  over. 
On  the  31st  of  July  1689,  the  enemy  decamped,  and 
the  cause  of  the  Revolution  was  saved  in  Ireland. 


CHAPTEE  XI 
1688-1900 

Changed  character  of  the  romance  of  religion  :  the  Psalms  in  the 
lives  of  religious  leaders — Baxter,  Law,  John  Wesley,  Charles 
Wesley,  William  Wilberforce,  Keble,  Manning,  Newman, 
Thomas  Arnold,  Julius  Hare,  Neander,  Charles  Kingsley, 
Stanley,  Chalmers,  Irving;  the  Psalms  in  the  lives  of  men 
of  science  —  Locke,  Humboldt,  Maine  de  Biran,  Sir  W. 
Hamilton,  Sir  James  Simpson,  Romanes;  the  Psalms  in 
literature] — Addison,  Cowper,  Boswell,  Scott,  Byron,  Hogg, 
Wordsworth,  Tennyson,  Matthew  Arnold,  Robert  Browning, 
Elizabeth  Barrett  Browning,  Fitzgerald,  Ruskin,  Carlyle. 

THE  first  seventy  years  of  the  eighteenth  century  lie 
like  a  plain  between  two  ranges  of  hills.  Behind  it 
rise  the  picturesque  highlands,  in  which  the  theology 
of  the  Middle  Ages  had  fought  every  inch  of  ground 
with  Protestantism,  and  where  the  voluptuous  sensi- 
bility of  the  Cavalier  had  crossed  swords  with  the 
stern  morality  of  the  Puritan.  Before  it  loom  the 
volcanic  heights  of  the  French  revolutionary  era, 
destined  to  be  the  scene  of  new  conflicts,  where  once 
more,  without  thought  of  compromise  or  acquiescence, 
opposing  principles  contended  for  absolute  victory. 
Between  the  mountain  ranges  extends  the  plain  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  rich  and  fertile,  but  deficient  in 
many  of  the  virtues  which  flourish  best  on  more 
barren  soils  and  in  more  bracing  air. 


297 


298  1688-1900 

England  under  the  last  two  Stuarts  had  retained 
the  heat  of  a  life-and-death  struggle,  though  the  fire 
was  already  burning  low.  Men  acted,  thought,  spoke, 
and  wrote  with  something  of  the  romance  and  passion 
of  their  ancestors.  At  least  they  preserved  the  grand 
manner,  if  they  had  lost  the  high-toned  sentiment 
which  was  its  impulse.  But  in  the  age  of  Anne,  and 
still  more  under  the  House  of  Hanover,  the  tempera- 
ture was  chilled.  Society  banished  enthusiasm  from 
politics,  philosophy,  literature,  religion,  and  took  its 
ease.  In  politics — loyalty  gave  place  to  expediency, 
divine  right  to  constitutional  monarchy.  In  philo- 
sophy— reason  and  experience  dethroned  faith  and 
tradition ;  the  thought  of  Locke,  clear,  sensible,  and 
practical,  reigned  supreme.  In  literature — passion, 
spontaneity,  imagination  were  succeeded  by  the  finish, 
taste,  restraint,  and  intellectual  fancy  of  an  impulse 
which  had  lost  the  fervour  of  youth. 

In  religion,  the  change  was  equally  conspicuous. 
Alarmed  at  the  results  of  Catholic  zeal  or  Puritan 
fervour,  society  invoked  the  aid  of  the  established 
religion  to  control  extravagance,  to  restrain  vehemence, 
and  strengthen  order.  Never  was  the  Church,  in  a 
sense,  more  popular.  Never  was  Christianity  more 
ably  defended ;  but  it  was  on  the  ground  of  human 
reasonableness  alone.  Its  most  powerful  champions 
fought  with  the  weapons  of  their  assailants,  and 
rejected  the  aid  of  all  that  was  miraculous,  mysterious, 
supernatural.  Cold  and  rational,  they  endeavoured  to 
argue  men  into  goodness,  appealed  to  a  system  of 
rewards  and  punishments,  ignored  the  power  of  the 
heart  or  the  imagination.  The  result  was  disastrous. 
Religion  grew  formal,  full  of  propriety,  drowsy,  pros- 
perous. Its  authority  was  put  forward  with  cautious 


RELIGIOUS  REVIVAL  299 

regard  to  the  probability  of  its  acceptance.  Seeming 
to  distrust  itself,  it  was  regarded  as  something  which 
could  be  ignored,  not  as  something  which  imperatively 
demanded  to  be  either  obeyed  or  condemned.  The 
devotional  cast  of  mind,  the  enthusiasm,  the  mystery, 
the  prophetic  vision,  the  martyr's  passion,  were  left 
behind  in  the  natural  sanctuaries  of  the  mountains. 
Nothing  remained  but  a  religion  of  the  plains — low- 
lying,  level,  utilitarian,  prosaic. 

During  the  last  half  of  the  eighteenth  century,  the 
dying  embers  of  religious  fervour  were  fanned  into 
flame  by  the  Methodists  and  the  Evangelicals.  Mean- 
while new  forces  were  coming  into  play  which  gave 
fresh  impulse  and  direction  to  every  form  of  national 
life.  Industrial  development  was  advancing  with 
rapidity.  Science  shook  off  its  dilettantism,  and 
became  a  power.  As  the  nineteenth  century  advanced, 
the  mental  attitude  of  inquirers  grew  to  be  scientific. 
The  supremacy  of  theology  was  challenged ;  the  claim 
of  authority  sifted  or  denied.  Out  of  the  shock  of  the 
collision  emerged  the  religious  parties  in  the  Church 
as  we  know  them  to-day.  Bitterly  opposed  as  they 
were,  and  are,  in  love  of  the  Psalter  they  were  united. 
Under  new  impulses,  the  romance  of  religion  revived, 
though  in  an  altered  form.  It  has  not  disappeared, 
nor  even  diminished ;  but  it  has  changed  in  character. 
It  has  passed  from  without  to  within,  from  action  to 
thought,  from  deeds  to  emotions.  It  has  become,  for 
that  reason,  less  adapted  for  pictorial  treatment.  The 
Psalms,  as  of  old,  still  nerve  men  and  women  to  suffer, 
to  dare,  to  endure.  But,  on  the  stage  of  history,  the 
opportunity  of  witnessing  for  the  faith  grows  rarer  as 
the  world  becomes  more  tolerant  or  more  indifferent 
to  diversity  of  opinion.  Religious  tragedies  are  still 


300  1688-1900 

played  on  every  side  of  us,  and  in  our  midst.  If  they 
could  be  revealed,  they  would  have  the  special  interest 
of  familiar  conditions  and  contemporary  circumstances. 
They  would  come  closer  to  us  than  scenes  of  martyr- 
dom. But  modern  tragedies  of  religion  are,  for  the 
most  part,  withdrawn  from  observation,  enacted  in 
the  privacy  of  home  rather  than  on  the  public  stage. 
Their  scene  is  the  human  heart,  or  the  human  brain. 
The  rack,  the  dungeon,  the  scaffold,  are  all  there. 
But  the  torture  is  the  chill  agony  of  doubt,  the  iron 
grip  of  remorseless  logic,  the  keen  analysis  of  search- 
ing introspection,  the  desperate  effort  to  hold  or  regain 
cherished  beliefs,  to  shake  off  the  gradual  deadening 
of  senses  once  susceptible  to  holy  impressions,  to  resist 
the  creeping  numbness  of  nerves  formerly  responsive 
to  sacred  influences.  To  the  vanquished,  come  the 
solitude,  the  void,  the  darkness  of  lost  creeds ;  to  the 
victors,  belong  the  peace  and  triumph  of  a  faith  that 
has  withstood  the  test.  The  scene  is  less  dramatic, 
less  picturesque.  But  the  trial  is  not  less  fiery  than 
the  stake.  Who  can  say  that  the  drawn-out  agony 
of  those  who  have  succumbed  does  not  exceed  the 
pains  of  those  who,  upheld  by  triumphant  confidence 
in  their  cause,  have  endured  the  most  exquisite 
tortures  of  the  body  ?  Who,  on  the  other  hand,  will 
assert  that  the  peace  and  joy  of  those,  whose  faith 
withstands  the  trial,  may  not  equal  the  most  ecstatic 
vision  of  his  risen  Lord  that  ever  gladdened  the  strain- 
ing eyes  of  the  Christian  martyr  at  the  moment  of  his 
supremest  anguish  ? 

It  is  well  that  the  choice  of  subjects  is  thus,  in  one 
sense,  narrowed,  at  the  moment  when  the  multifarious 
activities  of  modern  life  widen  the  field  so  indefinitely 
that  selection,  necessarily  arbitrary,  must  now  appear 


RICHARD  BAXTER  301 

capricious.  History  may  illustrate  something  of  the 
debt,  which,  during  the  last  two  centuries,  men  and 
women  have  owed  to  the  Psalms.  The  mystery  of 
existence  forces  itself  upon  our  attention.  The  eternal 
questions  of  whence  ?  and  why  ?  and  whither  ?  have 
never  been  more  insistent,  rolling  in  upon  us  like  the 
monotonous  surges  of  the  inarticulate  sea.  With 
tense  nerves  and  strained  senses,  men  and  women  ask, 
what  is  life,  and  what  is  death.  No  sound  of  answer 
comes,  except  the  echo  of  their  own  voices  reverber- 
ating through  a  cavernous  void ;  and  happy  are  they 
who,  turning  in  their  weariness  to  the  Psalter,  find 
that  its  words  wrap  them  round  like  a  folding  sense 
which  brings  them  peace.  Of  all  this  vast  sum  of 
human  experience,  history  takes  no  account.  For 
every  recorded  incident,  there  are  millions  of  cases, 
unknown  beyond  the  secret  chambers  of  the  heart,  in 
which  the  Psalms  have  restored  the  faith,  lifted  the 
despair,  revived  the  hopes,  steeled  the  courage,  bound 
up  the  wounds  of  the  struggling,  suffering  hosts  of 
humanity. 

On  the  lives  of  leaders  in  the  various  religious 
movements  which  mark  the  period,  may  be  traced 
the  influence  of  the  Psalms. 

Here  are  the  words,  "  And  call  upon  His  name, 
and  declare  His  works  among  the  people "  (Ps.  cv., 
verse  1),  which  are  inscribed  upon  the  pulpit  at  Kid- 
derminster, once  occupied  by  Richard  Baxter  (1615- 
92),  one  of  the  first  and  greatest  of  Nonconformist 
divines,  the  eloquent  preacher,  the  voluminous  theo- 
logical writer,  patient  alike  under  the  lifelong  pains 
of  disease  and  thirty  years  of  almost  incessant  perse- 
cution. A  man  whose  personal  holiness  was  never 
disputed  by  his  bitterest  opponents,  and  a  model 


302  1688-1900 

parish  priest,  he  so  transformed  Kidderminster,  that 
"  on  the  Lord's  day  there  was  no  disorder  to  be  seen 
in  the  streets  ;  but  you  might  hear  a  hundred  families 
singing  psalms,  and  repeating  sermons  as  you  passed 
through  them."  The  use  of  the  Psalms  by  his 
parishioners  at  Kidderminster  might  well  have  been 
the  fruit  of  Baxter's  special  influence ;  some  may  even 
have  been  sung  in  his  own  metrical  version.  A  Para- 
phrase on  the  Psalms  of  David  (1692)  was  among  the 
products  of  his  gigantic  literary  labours,  and  his  own 
words  show  that  he  found  in  the  Psalms  a  daily 
support.  In  1662,  at  the  age  of  forty-seven,  he  had 
married  Margaret  Charlton,  a  girl  of  gentle  birth  and 
"strangely  vivid  wit,"  the  faithful,  tender  companion 
of  whom  he  paints  a  loving  portrait  in  his  Breviate  of 
her  Life.  "  It  was  not,"  he  writes,  "  the  least  comfort 
that  I  had  in  the  converse  of  my  late  dear  wife,  that 
our  first  in  the  morning  and  our  last  in  bed  at  night, 
was  a  psalm  of  promise,  till  the  hearing  of  others 
interrupted  it." 

Baxter's  Saint's  Everlasting  Rest  and  Call  to  the 
Unconverted  are  masterpieces  of  devotional  literature, 
whose  widespread  popularity  still  endures.  Scarcely 
less  powerful,  though  far  less  popular,  has  been  the 
influence  of  the  Serious  Call  (1729)  of  William  Law 
(1686-1761),  "a  nonjuror,  a  wit,  and  a  saint,  who 
seems  to  have  believed  all  that  he  professed,  and  to 
have  practised  all  that  he  enjoyned."  As  literature, 
the  book  is  read  for  its  masterly  style  and  for  the 
keen  satire  of  its  portraits.  As  a  call  to  devotion,  it 
was  the  first  book  which  made  Dr  Johnson  think  "in 
earnest  of  religion."  Lord  Lyttelton  could  not  lay  it 
down  till  he  had  read  it  through,  called  it  "one  of 
the  finest  books  that  ever  was  written,"  and  only 


WILLIAM  LAW  303 

wondered  that  it  "  had  been  penned  by  a  crack-brained 
enthusiast."  On  the  two  Wesley s,  on  Whitefield,  on 
Evangelicals  like  Venn,  Newton,  and  Scott,  on  leaders 
of  the  Oxford  movement  like  Keble  or  Newman,  its 
influence  was  profound.  At  the  present  day,  when 
the  churchmanship  of  Law  is  again  in  the  ascendant, 
the  ascetic  tone  of  the  Serious  Call  finds  readers,  with 
whose  principles  it  is  more  in  harmony  than  with  those 
of  Methodist  or  Evangelical. 

At  the  time  when  Law  wrote,  the  bare  externals 
of  religion  were  punctiliously  observed.  But  the 
divorce  between  precept  and  practice  was  absolute. 
It  was  on  this  contrast  that  Law's  logical  intellect 
seized,  and  the  Serious  Call  invites  Christians  to 
practise  what  they  professed,  to  "  live  more  nearly  as 
they  prayed."  To  the  use  of  the  Psalms,  as  an  aid  to 
that  devotion  which  dedicates  a  life  to  God,  one  of 
Law's  most  eloquent  chapters  (chapter  xv.)  is  devoted. 
"Do  but  so  live,"  he  says,  "that  your  heart  may  truly 
rejoice  in  God,  that  it  may  feel  itself  affected  with  the 
praises  of  God,  and  then  you  will  find,  that  this  state 
of  your  heart  will  neither  want  a  voice,  nor  ear  to  find 
a  tune  for  a  psalm."  He  bids  men  imagine  themselves 
"with  Moses  when  he  was  led  through  the  Ked  Sea." 
"  Do  you  think  that  you  should  then  have  wanted  a  / 
voice  or  an  ear  to  have  sung  with  Moses,  'The  Lord  ' 
is  my  strength  and  my  song,  and  He  is  become  my 
salvation/  etc.?"  The  chapter  closes  with  a  selection 
of  the  psalms  which  are  best  adapted  for  devotional 
use.  Psalm  cxlv.,  "  I  will  magnify  Thee,  O  God,  my 
King,  and  I  will  praise  Thy  Name  for  ever  and  ever," 
is  his  choice  for  a  morning  hymn.  "  The  34th,  96th, 
103rd,  lllth,  146th,  147th,"  are  such  as  wonderfully 
set  forth  "  the  glory  of  God,  and,  therefore,  you  may 


304  1688-1900 

keep  to  any  one  of  them  at  any  particular  hour  as  you 
like  ;  or  you  may  take  the  finest  parts  of  any  psalms, 
and  so,  adding  them  together,  may  make  them  fitter 
for  your  own  devotion." 

Here  are  the  words  of  Psalm  cxxx.,  "Out  of  the 
deep  have  I  called  unto  Thee,  O  Lord  :  Lord  hear  my 
voice,"  etc.,  which  John  Wesley  (1703-91)  heard  sung 
on  the  afternoon  of  Wednesday,  May  24th,  1738,  as  an 
anthem  at  St  Paul's  Cathedral.  The  psalm  was  one 
of  the  influences  that  attuned  his  heart  to  receive  that 
assurance  of  his  salvation  by  faith,  which  the  evening 
of  the  same  day  brought  to  him  in  the  room  at 
Aldersgate  Street.  On  the  foundation  of  that  sure 
confidence,  his  intense  energy,  organising  genius,  and 
administrative  capacity  built  up,  for  the  most  part 
from  neglected  materials,  the  mighty  movement  that 
still  bears  both  his  name  and  the  impress  of  his 
structural  mind.  For  half  a  century,  as  he  rode  up 
and  down  the  country,  his  voice  sounded  louder  and 
louder,  till  it  penetrated  every  corner  of  the  kingdom, 
rousing  once  more  the  sense  of  the  need  of  personal 
religion,  and  stirring  anew  the  numbed  perception  of 
unseen  spiritual  realities.  On  March  2nd,  1791,  he 
died  at  the  Chapel-house  in  the  City  Eoad,  London. 
It  was  with  the  words  of  the  Psalms  that  he  met  the 
approach  of  death.  Gathering  his  remaining  strength 
into  the  twice-repeated  cry,  "  The  best  of  all  is,  God  is 
with  us  ! "  he  lay  for  some  time  exhausted.  One  of 
the  bystanders  wetted  his  parched  lips.  "  It  will  not 
do,"  he  said  ;  "  we  must  take  the  consequence  ;  never 
mind  the  poor  carcase."  Pausing  a  little,  he  cried, 
"Thy  clouds  drop  fatness  !  "  (Ps.  Ixv.,  verse  12) ;  and 
soon  after,  "The  Lord  of  Hosts  is  \vith  us,  the  God 
of  Jacob  is  our  refuge  "  (Ps.  xlvi.,  verse  7).  Through- 


JOHN  AND  CHARLES  WESLEY  305 

out  the  night  he  was  heard  attempting  to  repeat  the 
words.     The  next  morning  he  was  dead. 

With  a  psalm  also  died  Charles  Wesley  (1707-88). 
The  first  hymn-book  compiled  for  the  use  of  the 
Church  of  England  was  John  Wesley's  Collection  of 
Psalms  and  Hymns,  printed  at  Charlestown  in  1736-7. 
Wesley  regarded  hymns  as  a  powerful  means  both  of 
expressing  the  devotional  feelings  and  of  establishing 
the  faith  of  his  followers.  He  himself  wrote  or 
translated  many  that  are  still  in  popular  use.  But  the 
great  hymn- writer  of  the  movement,  and  perhaps  the 
greatest  hymn-writer  the  world  has  ever  known,  was 
his  younger  brother.  Of  Charles  Wesley's  6500 
hymns,  some  are  unsurpassed  in  beauty,  and  rank 
among  the  finest  in  the  English  language.  Through- 
out his  life,  they  were  the  form  in  which  he  found  the 
truest  expression  for  his  deepest  feelings.  On  his 
deathbed,  in  March  1788,  the  train  of  thought  sug- 
gested by  Psalm  Ixxiii.,  verse  25  ("My  flesh  and  my 
heart  faileth ;  but  God  is  the  strength  of  my  heart, 
and  my  portion  for  ever  "),  took  shape  in  verse.  It 
was  the  last  exercise  of  his  wonderful  gift.  Calling 
his  wife  to  his  side,  he  dictated  to  her  the  lines : 

"  In  age  and  feebleness  extreme, 
What  shall  a  sinful  worm  redeem  ? 
Jesus,  my  only  hope  thou  art, 
Strength  of  my  failing  flesh  and  heart ; 
O3  could  I  catch  a  smile  from  thee, 
And  drop  into  eternity  '  " 

As  Luther's  success  had  stirred  the  dormant 
energies  of  the  Koman  Catholics,  so  the  Methodists 
roused  the  Church  of  England  from  her  lethargy.  A 
new  spirit  of  life  was  breathed  into  the  Establishment 
by  men  like  Newton,  Scott,  Venn,  and  Simeon.  Of 

v 


306  1688-1900 

the  personal  and  practical  religion  of  the  Evangelicals, 
William  Wilberforce  (1759-1833),  who  moved  and 
finally  carried  the  abolition  of  the  Slave  Trade  (1807), 
may  be  taken  as  a  representative.  The  brilliant 
young  man,  whose  gay  wit  charmed  the  town,  who 
played  faro  while  George  Selwyn  held  the  bank, 
gambled  with  Fox,  was  the  bosom  friend  of  Pitt,  flirted 
with  Mrs  Crewe,  bandied  criticisms  with  Madame 
de  Stael,  or  sang  ballads  to  the  Prince  of  Wales, 
passed  in  1785  through  that  crisis  of  the  mind 
and  character,  which  men  of  his  school  of  religious 
thought  call  "  conversion."  The  change  never  turned 
his  natural  gaiety  into  moroseness.  He  remained  the 
same  charming  companion,  but  his  purpose  in  life  was 
fixed  :  he  would  devote  his  time  and  talents  to  philan- 
thropic efforts,  and  especially  to  the  abolition  of  the 
Slave  Trade. 

Numerous  passages  in  his  Diary  show  how  largely 
this  hidden  life  was  fed  by  the  study  of  the  Psalms. 
Granville  Sharpe  (1735-1813),  his  predecessor  and 
colleague  in  the  work  of  abolishing  the  Slave  Trade, 
sang,  night  and  morning,  "a  portion  of  the  Hebrew 
Psalms  to  his  harp."  So  Wilberforce  studied  his 
Psalter.  In  his  Diary  for  1803,  he  writes :  "  I  am 
reading  the  Psalms  just  now,  comparing  the  two 
versions,  and  reading  Home's  Commentary.  What 
wonderful  compositions !  What  a  decisive  proof  of 
the  Divine  origin  of  the  religion  to  which  they  belong  ! 
There  is  in  the  world  nothing  else  like  them."  In 
1807  he  had  gained  two  personal  triumphs.  He  had 
carried  his  Bill  for  the  Abolition  of  the  Slave  Trade, 
and  he  had  kept  his  seat  for  Yorkshire.  Neither 
event  elated  him.  It  is  in  the  language  and  spirit 
of  the  Psalms  that  his  reflections  on  his  political 


JOHN  KEBLE  307 

successes  are  expressed,  as  he  meditate?  on  such 
texts  as,  "  Not  unto  us,  O  Lord,  not  unto  us,  but  unto 
Thy  Name  give  the  praise"  (Ps.  cxv.,  verse  1).  In 
1819,  in  the  midst  of  the  bustle  of  London  life,  and 
the  disturbances  which  threatened  the  domestic  peace 
of  the  country,  his  own  mind  was  serene.  "  Walked 
from  Hyde  Park  corner,  repeating  the  119th  Psalm, 
in  great  comfort,"  is  the  entry  in  his  Diary.  A  year 
later,  came  the  king's  coronation,  and  Queen  Caroline's 
claim  to  be  crowned.  For  taking  the  unpopular  side 
against  the  queen,  Wilberforce  was  violently  attacked, 
especially  by  Cobbett.  To  a  man  of  his  temperament, 
the  pain  was  bitter.  It  was  to  the  Psalms  that  he 
turned.  "  The  71st  Psalm,  which  I  learned  by  heart 
lately,"  he  tells  his  wife,  "has  been  a  real  comfort 
to  me." 

On  the  Psalms  is  based  the  most  popular  of  all  the 
writings  of  John  Keble  (1792-1866),  the  "true  and 
primary  author  "  of  the  Oxford  movement.  His  own 
metrical  Psalter  (1839)  is  little  used  and  little  known. 
But  though  the  Psalms  supply  none  of  the  texts  by 
which  the  hymns  are  suggested  and  prefaced,  it  is 
from  the  Psalter  that  Keble  drew  the  inspiration  of 
The  Christian  Year  (1827).  In  his  "  Dedication  "  he 
avows  his  model : 


"  O  happiest  who  before  Thine  altar  wait, 

With  pure  hands  ever  holding  up  on  high 
The  guiding  Star  of  all  who  seek  Thy  gate, 
The  undying  lamp  of  heavenly  Poesy. 

u  Too  weak,  too  wavering,  for  such  holy  task 

Is  my  frail  arm,  O  Lord ;  but  I  would  fain 
Track  to  its  source  the  brightness,  I  would  bask 
In  the  clear  ray  that  makes  Thy  pathway  plain. 


308  1688-1900 

"  I  dare  not  hope  with  David's  harp  to  chase 
The  evil  spirit  from  the  troubled  breast ; 
Enough  for  me  if  I  can  find  such  grace 
To  listen  to  the  strain,  and  be  at  rest." 

A  text  from  the  Psalms  haunted  the  memory  of 
Henry  Manning  as  an  undergraduate  at  Oxford,  when 
his  religious  opinions  were  yet  unformed,  and  his 
ambitions  still  centred  on  political  life.  As  cardinal 
and  archbishop,  the  same  words  bore  to  him  their 
daily  message.  "The  Psalms  and  the  Lessons,"  he 
says  in  an  autobiographical  note  on  the  years  1829-31, 
"  were  always  a  delight  to  me.  The  verse  '  Why  art 
thou  cast  down,  O  my  soul/  "  etc.  (Ps.  xlii.,  verse  6), 
"  always  seemed  a  voice  to  me.  Every  day  in  the  daily 
Mass  it  comes  back  to  me." 

In  Newman's  Dream  of  Gerontius,  some  striking 
passages  are  echoes  from  the  Psalms.  Gerontius  dies, 
murmuring  the  familiar  words  of  Ps.  xxxi.,  verse  6  : 

"  Novissima  hora  est :  and  I  fain  would  sleep. 
The  pain  has  wearied  me  .  .  .  Into  Thy  hands, 
O  Lord,  into  Thy  hands.  .  .  ." 

His  "  struggling  soul  quitted  its  mortal  case,"  and  is 
borne  by  the  angel  into  the  presence  of  the  just  and 
holy  Judge.  As  the  soul  and  its  guardian  mount  up- 
wards, the  angelic  choirs  hymn  their  Maker's  praise 
in  lines,  whose  opening  stanza  recalls  Psalms  cxlviii. 
and  cL  : 

"Praise  to  the  Holiest  in  the  height, 

And  in  the  depth  be  praise  ; 
In  all  His  words  most  wonderful ; 
Most  sure  in  all  His  ways ! 

The  great  Angel  of  the  Agony  pleads  with  Him 
whom  he  had  strengthened  in  the  garden,  and  the 


JOHN  HENRY  NEWMAN  309 

soul   of  Gerontius  lies   prone  at  the   "dear  feet  of 
Emmanuel,"  .  .  .  happy, 

"  For  it  is  safe, 
Consumed,  yet  quickened,  by  the  glance  of  God." 

Then,  as  the  Angel  commits  his  charge  to  the 
temporary  keeping  of  the  Angels  of  Purgatory,  the 
Souls  within  the  golden  prison  break  into  a  solemn 
chant,  which  is  a  paraphrase  of  part  of  Psalm  xc. : 

€t  1.  Lord,  Thou  hast  been  our  refuge  in  every  generation; 

2.  Before  the  hills  were  born,  and  the  world  was,  from  age  to 

age  Thou  art  God. 

3.  Bring  us  not,   Lord,  very  low ;    for  Thou  hast  said,  Come 

back  again,  ye  sons  of  Adam. 

4.  A  thousand  years  before  Thine  eyes  are  but  as  yesterday, 

and  as  a  watch  of  the  night  which  is  come  and  gone," 
etc.,  etc. 

Here  are  the  words — "  O  give  me  the  comfort  of 
Thy  help  again;  and  stablish  me  with  Thy  free 
spirit"  (Ps.  li.,  verse  12) — which  the  great  headmaster 
of  Kugby,  Thomas  Arnold,  repeated,  as,  in  June  1842, 
he  lay  on  his  deathbed  in  the  torture  of  angina  pectoris. 
Here  is  the  text — Psalm  xvii.,  verse  16 — in  which  Julius 
Hare  specially  delighted.  "When,"  wrote  Whewell, 
his  old  college  friend  at  Trinity,  Cambridge,  "the 
Psalm  was  read  to  him  before  his  spirit  departed, 
he  thanked  those  who  had  thus  chosen  the  words  of 
Scripture  which  he  so  especially  delighted  in;  with 
these  sounds  of  glory  singing  in  his  ears,  'I  will 
behold  Thy  presence  in  righteousness;  and  when  I 
awake  up  after  Thy  likeness,  I  shall  be  satisfied  with 
it,'  our  dear  friend  fell  into  that  sleep  from  which  he 
was  to  awake  in  the  likeness  of  Christ."  To  Neander, 
Hare  and  the  Cambridge  Liberals  of  his  circle  looked 
for  the  reconciliation  of  revelation  with  intellect,  and 


310  1688-1900 

here  is  the  Psalm— "The  Lord  is  my  Shepherd;  I  shall 
not  want"  (Ps.  xxiii.,  verse  1)— which  was  sung  by  the 
German  students  to  celebrate  the  last*  birthday  of 
the  great  German  theologian  (January  6th,  1850). 
Here,  again,  is  the  favourite  psalm  of  Charles 
Kingsley — Psalm  Ixxvi.  "How  strange,"  he  writes, 
when  voyaging  up  the  Rhine  in  August  1851, 
and  looking  on  the  hills  crowned  with  the  ruined 
strongholds  of  freebooters,  "  that  my  favourite  psalm 
about  the  hills  of  the  robbers  (hills  of  prey)  should 
have  come  in  course  the  very  day  I  went  up 
the  Ehine."  Here,  lastly,  is  the  favourite  text  of 
Dean  Stanley,  a  choice  characteristic  alike  of  the 
man  and  of  his  work :  "  I  see  that  all  things  come 
to  an  end;  but  Thy  commandment  is  exceeding 
broad"  (Ps.  cxix.,  verse  96). 

In  the  religious  history  of  Scotland,  no  event  since 
the  Reformation  created  so  profound  an  impression 
as  the  secession  of  the  Free  Church  ministers,  May 
18th,  1843.  Here  too  the  Psalms  were  at  work.  Of 
that  movement,  Thomas  Chalmers  (1780-1847)  was 
the  leading  spirit.  In  early  life  he  had  hovered  on  the 
verge  of  atheism.  But  in  1810  he  had  thrown  off 
the  spell,  and  his  original,  independent  mind  passed 
from  misery  into  what  he  himself  described  as 
"Elysium."  Henceforward,  though,  to  quote  his  words, 
"he  could  not  speak  of  the  raptures  of  Christian 
enjoyment :  he  thought  he  could  enter  into  the  feeling 
of  the  Psalmist — *  My  soul  breaketh  out  for  the  very 
fervent  desire  that  it  hath  alway  unto  Thy  judge- 
ments ' "  (Ps.  cxix.,  verse  20).  The  depth  of  his  con- 
viction, the  intensity  of  his  enthusiasm,  the  fire  of  his 
natural  eloquence,  triumphed  over  the  rugged  un- 

*  Neauder  died  July  14th,  1830, 


THOMAS  CHALMERS  311 

coutlmess  of  his  manner.     No  preacher  of  his  day 
produced  so  strong  and  irresistible  an  effect. 

To  secure  spiritual  independence  from  civil  control 
in  matters  which  to  him  and  his  followers  seemed 
vital,  he  and  four  hundred  and  seventy  ministers 
resigned  their  livings,  and  joined  the  Free  Church. 
With  that  memorable  "  Disruption,"  the  Psalms  were 
twice  associated.  It  was  from  the  words,  "  Unto  the 
godly  there  ariseth  up  light  in  the  darkness  "  (Ps.  cxii., 
verse  4),  that  Chalmers  preached  a  sermon  in  Edin- 
burgh (November  17th,  1842),  which  put  fresh  vigour 
into  those  who  dreaded  the  unknown  future.  It  was 
from  the  Psalms,  again,  that  the  seceding  ministers,  on 
the  day  of  the  formal  separation,  drew  courage  and 
hope.  On  May  18th,  1843,  Chalmers  presided  as 
moderator  over  the  meeting  in  Tanfield  Hall.  A 
heavy  thundercloud  darkened  the  building.  But  as 
Chalmers  gave  out  the  Psalm  (xliii.)  to  be  sung, 
beginning  at  the  3rd  verse,  "O  send  out  Thy  light 
and  Thy  truth,  that  they  may  lead  me,"  the  cloud 
parted ;  the  sun  poured  forth ;  the  sombre  shade 
became  dazzling  light. 

During  two  years  of  Chalmers'  ministry  in  Glasgow 
(1819-22),  he  had  for  his  curate  Edward  Irving,  one 
of  the  strangest  and  most  pathetic  figures  in  the 
ecclesiastical  history  of  the  last  century — the  lover  of 
Jane  Welsh,  the  friend  of  Thomas  Carlyle,  and  the 
founder  of  a  Church. 

In  1822,  Irving  began  to  preach  at  a  little  chapel 
in  Hatton  Garden.  Like  Byron,  he  awoke  to  find 
himself  famous.  The  most  brilliant  members  of 
London  society  crowded  to  hear  him;  the  mystic 
eloquence  and  prophetic  outpourings  of  this  impas- 
sioned Cameronian  were  a  new  sensation  ;  his  splendid 


312  1688-1900 

figure,  sonorous  voice,  and  noble  features  heightened 
the  magnetism  that  he  exercised  ;  fashion  fell  at  his 
feet.  Flattery  intoxicated  him.  He  could  not  endure 
neglect,  and  singularity  succeeded  to  singularity.  A 
wave  of  religious  enthusiasm  had  swept  over  the 
country,  its  tide  setting  strongly  in  one  particular 
direction.  In  the  horrors  of  the  French  Eevolution, 
in  the  rise  and  fall  of  Napoleon,  men  saw  the  fulfil- 
ment of  Divine  prophecies.  With  senses  alert  and 
strained,  they  watched  for  signs  of  the  impending  end 
of  the  world.  Poets  and  painters  sought  their 
inspiration  in  Apocalyptic  visions.  The  current  swept 
Irving  from  his  feet.  Hour  after  hour,  he  expounded 
to  listening  crowds  his  theories  of  the  Second  Advent, 
his  prophecies  of  "  the  Coming  of  the  Messiah  in 
Glory  and  Majesty."  In  1831,  the  "  unknown  tongues  " 
were  for  the  first  time  heard  in  his  church  at  Regent 
Square,  and  henceforward  they  became  frequent,  if 
not  habitual,  occurrences. 

In  April  1832,  the  trustees  of  the  Regent  Square 
Church  removed  him  from  the  pulpit,  though  the  bulk 
of  his  congregation  followed  him  to  Gray's  Inn  Road. 
He  was  still  a  minister  of  the  Church  of  Scotland ;  but 
in  March  1833,  he  was  deposed  from  his  ministry  by 
the  Presbytery  of  Annan.  The  tribunal  before  which 
he  appeared,  consisted  of  homely  old  men— half 
ministers,  half  sheep-farmers — summoned  from  their 
rural  manses  to  determine  delicate  questions  of  theo- 
logical orthodoxy.  Hours  passed  in  the  speeches  of 
the  accusers,  and  in  the  defence  of  the  most  eloquent 
and  brilliant  preacher  of  the  day.  The  trial  began  at 
noon.  It  was  dark  when  Irving  was  pronounced  by 
the  Presbyters  to  be  guilty  of  heresy.  Before  the 
moderator  delivered  sentence  of  deposition,  in  a  scene 


EDWARD  IRVING  313 

of  strange  excitement,  Irving  left  the  dimly  lighted 
church,  in  which  he  had  been  baptized  and  ordained, 
crying  to  the  crowd  that  obstructed  his  passage, 
"Stand  forth!  Stand  forth!  What!  will  ye  not 
obey  the  voice  of  the  Holy  Ghost  ?  As  many  as  will 
obey  the  voice  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  let  them  depart." 
He  was  at  least  spared  the  pain  of  hearing  himself 
cast  out  by  the  Church  which  disowned  his  service. 
"I  sang  in  my  heart,"  he  says,  "  'Blessed  be  the  Lord, 
Who  hath  not  given  us  as  a  prey  to  their  teeth/ " 
(Ps.  cxxiv.,  verse  5). 

Irving  returned  to  London  to  find  himself  for- 
bidden to  administer  the  Sacraments,  for  the  act  of 
deposition  was  a  judicial  act,  depriving  him  of  his 
authority  as  a  minister.  Though  he  was  re-ordained 
by  the  apostles  of  his  own  Church,  he  never  recovered 
from  the  blow.  He  accepted  it  with  a  humility  which 
was  the  more  touching  from  his  confidence  in  his 
extraordinary  powers.  But  his  heart  was  broken. 
Slowly  his  life  ebbed  from  him.  His  faith  in  his 
mission  was  unshaken  ;  he  believed  in  it  with  all  the 
fervour  and  strength  of  his  soul,  and  toiled  still  to  gain 
for  it  the  ear  of  the  world  ;  but  in  vain.  In  September 
1834,  he  left  London  a  dying  man.  Riding  through 
Shropshire  and  Wales,  and  visiting  his  scattered  con- 
gregations as  he  went,  he  reached  Liverpool.  In  his 
touching  letters  to  his  wife  are  messages  to  his  little 
daughter,  Maggie,  sent  in  the  simply-told  stories  that 
he  gleaned  on  his  way.  When  other  comforts  had 
failed,  and  fame  had  fled,  he  clung  still  to  his  Bible, 
and  made  the  Psalms  his  constant  companions.  "  How 
in  the  night  seasons,"  he  writes  on  October  12th, 
"  the  Psalms  have  been  my  consolations  against  the 
faintings  of  flesh  and  spirit/' 


314  1688-1900 

At  Liverpool  he  took  ship  and  sailed  for  Glasgow. 
The  end  was  near.  For  a  few  weeks  he  was  able  to 
preach,  though,  at  forty-two,  his  gaunt  gigantic  frame 
bore  all  the  marks  of  age  and  weakness.  His  face  was 
wasted,  his  hair  white,  his  voice  broken,  his  eyes  rest- 
less and  unquiet.  As  November  drew  to  its  close,  his 
feebleness  increased,  till  it  was  evident  that  his  life  was 
rapidly  passing  away.  His  mind  began  to  wander. 
Those  who  watched  at  his  bedside  could  not  under- 
stand the  broken  utterances  spoken  in  an  unknown 
tongue  by  his  faltering  voice.  But  at  last  it  was  found 
that  he  was  repeating  to  himself  in  Hebrew,  Psalm 
xxiii.,  "  The  Lord  is  my  Shepherd."  It  was  with 
something  like  its  old  power  that  the  dying  voice 
swelled  as  it  uttered  the  glorious  conviction,  "  Though 
I  walk  through  the  valley  of  the  shadow  of  death,  I 
will  fear  no  evil."  The  last  articulate  words  that  fell 
from  his  lips  were,  "  If  I  die,  I  die  unto  the  Lord. 
Amen."  And  with  these  he  passed  away  at  mid- 
night on  December  7th,  1834. 

Nor  is  the  love  of  the  Psalter  confined  to  those 
who,  in  their  different  ways,  and  often  in  bitter 
opposition,  have  defended  the  truths  of  Christianity. 
It  comprehends,  also,  many  of  those  who  have  stood 
in  the  forefront  of  the  scientific  attack.  A  vast 
change  has  passed  over  the  spirit  of  the  conflict.  The 
combatants  no  longer  fight  for  victory ;  both  sides 
respect  the  convictions  of  the  other ;  both  contend  for 
truth,  and  learn  to  welcome  it,  from  whatever  source 
derived.  Experience  has  proved,  not  only  that  scien- 
tific enthusiasm  can  raise  men  to  heights  of  the  purest 
morality,  of  the  most  absolute  disinterestedness  and 
most  austere  self-denial,  but  also  that  the  scientific 
attitude  is  not  incompatible  with  religious  aspirations 


LOCKE  AND  HUMBOLDT  315 

or  religious  convictions.  To  some  men,  faith  is  far 
harder  of  attainment  than  to  others ;  to  some,  in  their 
profound  sincerity  of  mind,  it  may  even  be  almost 
impossible.  Yet,  probably,  few  champions  of  science, 
driven  to  take  their  stand  on  a  point  of  Nothing  in  the 
agnostic  abyss  of  Nothing,  have  not  longed,  at  some 
moments  of  their  lives,  that  their  feet  were  firmly 
planted  on  the  Kock. 

John  Locke  lived  the  last  fourteen  years  of  his 
life  at  Gates,  in  Essex,  an  inmate  of  the  house  of  Sir 
Francis  Masham.  In  his  seventy-third  year,  his 
strength  failed  him  fast,  and  he  knew  that  his  end 
was  near.  On  October  28th,  1704,  Lady  Masham  was 
reading  the  psalms  for  the  day,  "  low,  while  he  was 
dressing."  He  asked  her  to  read  them  aloud,  and  it 
was  while  he  was  listening  to  the  words,  that  the 
stroke  of  death  fell  upon  him.  In  the  Psalms, 
Alexander  von  Humboldt  (1769-1859)  recognised  an 
epitome  of  scientific  progress,  a  summary  of  the  laws 
which  govern  the  universe.  "  A  single  psalm,  the 
104th,"  he  writes,  "may  be  said  to  present  a  picture 
of  the  entire  Cosmos  .  .  .  We  are  astonished  to  see, 
within  the  compass  of  a  poem  of  such  small  dimension, 
the  universe,  the  heavens  and  the  earth,  thus  drawn 
with  a  few  grand  strokes." 

Similar  is  the  testimony  of  Maine  de  Biran  (1766- 
1824),  whom  Cousin  called  one  of  the  greatest  of 
French  metaphysicians.  He  had  lived  through  all  the 
storms  of  the  French  Revolution,  the  Empire,  and  the 
Restoration.  A  soldier,  a  politician,  an  administrator, 
he  had  played  his  part  in  political  life.  Yet  it  was  as 
a  solitary  thinker,  a  keen  observer  of  himself,  a  deep 
student  of  the  facts  of  his  inner  consciousness,  that 
his  chief  work  was  done.  In  his  Journal  he  lays  bare 


316  1688-1900 

the  mental  stages  by  which  he  passed  from  the  guid- 
ance of  Condillac  to  that  of  Fenelon,  from  the  self- 
interest  of  the  one  to  the  self-sacrifice  of  the  other. 
The  rapid  changes  in  all  around  him  forced  upon  his 
mind  the  need  of  some  fixed,  immutable  point  of 
support.  He  could  not  hold,  with  his  first  master, 
that  man  receives,  through  the  channels  of  the  senses 
alone,  all  the  elements  of  his  moral  and  intellectual 
nature.  Such  a  theory  brought  him  nothing  permanent, 
and  no  repose.  For  a  time  he  wavered  between  the 
creed  of  the  Stoic  and  that  of  the  Christian  :  but  gradu- 
ally Marcus  Aurelius  yielded  to  the  teaching  of  the 
Bible,  the  Pensees  of  Pascal,  the  Imitation  of  Christ, 
the  CEuvres  Spirituelles  of  Fenelon.  Biran  became 
a  believer  in  Christianity.  In  a  philosophical  work, 
on  which  he  was  engaged  at  the  time  of  his  death, 
Nouveaux  Essais  d' Anthropologie,  a  work  which  gave 
a  new  impulse  to  the  spiritual  school  of  philosophy  in 
France,  he  distinguishes  three  stages  in  the  moral 
growth  of  man.  The  first  stage  is  animal,  governed 
by  instincts  and  passions.  The  second  is  human,  when 
the  will  and  reason  triumph  over  the  merely  animal 
nature.  The  third  is  spiritual,  when  the  will  itself 
submits  to,  and  is  absorbed  in,  the  guidance  of  the 
Divine  Spirit.  If  the  second  stage  is  characterised  by 
effort,  the  essence  of  the  third  is  love.  The  second  is 
the  ideal  of  the  Stoic  ;  the  third  of  the  Christian.  The 
great  change  in  his  life  took  place  about  1818.  In 
his  Pensees  for  March  28th,  to  April  1st,  in  that  year, 
he  comments  on  verse  28  of  Psalm  cxix. ;  "  the  Word 
that  can  make  me  live,  will  not  come  from  me  nor 
from  my  will,  nor  yet  from  anything  that  I  hear  or 
collect  from  without."  In  this  conviction  he  presses 
forward  on  his  new  road.  It  is  religion  alone  that 


MAINE  DE  BIRAN  317 

can  help  a  man  to  change  his  nature :  it  alone  gives 
him,  as  he  says,  "  the  wings  of  the  dove."  Without 
this  aid,  man  would  weary  of  the  struggle  ;  and  he 
asks  for  help,  in  the  words  of  Psalm  vi.,  verse  2, 
"  Have  mercy  upon  me,  O  Lord,  for  I  am  weak."  The 
last  entry  in  his  Diary,  May  17th,  1824,  made  when  he 
already  felt  the  rapid  approach  of  his  fatal  illness,  is  a 
comment  on  Psalm  xxxviii.,  verse  7  :  "In  my  weak- 
ness, and  in  my  moral  and  physical  discomfort,  I  cry 
aloud  upon  my  cross,  '  Have  mercy  upon  me,  O  Lord, 
for  I  am  weak.  My  loins  are  filled  with  a  sore  disease ; 
and  there  is  no  whole  part  in  my  body/  Woe,"  he 
says,  "to  the  man  who  is  alone.  Unhappy  too  is  the 
man,  however  powerful  his  intellect,  or  however  great 
his  human  wisdom,  who  is  not  sustained  by  a  strength 
and  a  wisdom  higher  than  his  own.  The  true  wisdom, 
the  true  strength,  consists  in  feeling  the  support  of  God. 
If  he  has  not  this,  woe  to  him,  for  he  is  alone !  The 
Stoic  stands  alone.  The  Christian  walks  in  God's  pre- 
sence and  with  God,  through  this  world  and  the  next." 
Here  are  the  words  of  Psalm  xxiii.,  verse  4,  "  Thy 
rod  and  thy  staff  comfort  me,"  which  consoled  the 
dying  hours  of  Sir  William  Hamilton  (1788-1856), 
"almost  the  only  earnest  man"  Carlyle  found  in 
Edinburgh;  a  student  of  colossal  learning,  yet  as 
original  as  he  was  erudite,  who  did  more  than  any 
man  of  his  time  to  release  the  reflective  thought  of 
this  country  from  its  insularity,  and  to  bind  it  to  all 
that  was  best  in  the  philosophy  of  Greece,  Germany, 
and  France.  The  insuperable  limitations  of  human 
knowledge  were  the  essence  of  his  teaching ;  yet  it 
was  on  the  mysteries  which  lay  beyond  the  barrier  of 
the  Unknowable  that  he  reposed  at  the  moment  of 
his  death. 


318  1688-1900 

Here  are  the  words  which  Sir  James  Simpson 
(1811-70),  in  his  childhood  at  Bathgate,  knew  as  his 
"Mother's  Psalm."  In  times  of  anxiety  and  trial, 
and  they  were  not  infrequent  in  the  baker's  shop,  Mrs 
Simpson  used  to  repeat  Psalm  xx.  in  the  Scottish 
paraphrase : 

"Jehovah  hear  thee  in  the  day  when  trouble  He  doth  send, 
And  let  the  name  of  Jacob's  God  thee  from  all  ill  defend  : 
O  let  Him  help  send  from  above,  out  of  His  sanctuary ; 
From  Sion,  His  own  holy  hill,  let  Him  give  strength  to  thee." 

Etc.,  etc. 

The  memory  of  her  character  and  example  never  faded 
from  her  son's  mind.  Years  later,  when  he  was  already 
famous  as  the  discoverer  of  chloroform,  and  at  the 
head  of  his  profession,  Simpson  returned  to  the  im- 
pressions of  his  childhood,  and  it  became  his  highest 
ambition  to  make  known  to  others,  in  public  or  in 
private,  the  peace  which  he  had  found  in  the  Christian 
faith. 

Or,  lastly,  may  be  quoted  the  Sonnet,  suggested 
by  Psalm  xxvii.,  which  was  written  by  one  of  the 
ablest  of  modern  biologists,  George  John  Romanes  : 

**  I  ask  not  for  Thy  love,  O  Lord  ;  the  days 

Can  never  come  when  anguish  shall  atone. 

Enough  for  me  were  but  Thy  pity  shown, 
To  me  as  to  the  stricken  sheep  that  strays, 
With  ceaseless  cry  for  unforgotten  ways — 

O  lead  me  back  to  pastures  I  have  known 

Or  find  me  in  the  wilderness  alone, 
And  slay  me,  as  the  hand  of  mercy  slays. 

"  I  ask  not  for  Thy  love  ;  nor  e'en  as  much 
As  for  a  hope  on  Thy  dear  breast  to  lie ; 

But  be  Thou  still  my  Shepherd— still  with  such 
Compassion  as  may  melt  and  such  a  cry ; 

That  so  I  hear  Thy  feet,  and  feel  Thy  touch, 
And  dimly  see  Thy  face  ere  yet  I  die." 


JOSEPH  ADDISON  319 

Literature  has  felt  the  same  spell  as  that  which 
fell  upon  philosophy  and  science.  Men  of  letters  in 
their  lives  or  in  their  writings  have  acknowledged  the 
universality  of  the  Psalms. 

To  two  paraphrases  of  the  Psalms,  Joseph  Addison 
owes  no  inconsiderable  portion  of  his  fame.  "  David," 
he  writes  in  the  Spectator,  "has  very  beautifully  ex- 
pressed this  steady  reliance  on  God  Almighty  in  his 
23rd  Psalm,  which  is  a  kind  of  pastoral  hymn,  and  filled 
with  those  allusions  which  are  usually  found  in  that 
kind  of  writing."  .  .  .  Then  follows  the  well-known 
version  of  Psalm  xxiii.,  "  The  Lord  my  pasture  shall 
prepare."  *  A  month  later,  appeared  an  essay  on 
the  means  of  confirming  human  faith.  It  closes 
with  the  equally  famous  version  of  Psalm  xix., 
"The  spacious  firmament  on  high."f  Throughout 
the  English  -  speaking  world,  the  two  para- 
phrases of  the  Psalms  are  known  to  millions 
who  know  nothing  of  Sir  Roger  de  Coverley  or  of 
Cato. 

It  was  with  a  psalm  that  William  Cowper,  a  timid, 
delicate,  sensitive  child  in  Dr  Pitman's  School  at 
Market  Street,  Hertfordshire,  nerved  himself  to  en- 
dure the  torture  inflicted  by  an  elder  boy.  "  I  well 
remember,"  he  says,  "  being  afraid  to  lift  my  eyes  upon 
him  higher  than  his  knees ;  and  that  I  knew  him 
better  by  his  shoe-buckles  than  by  any  other  part  of 
his  dress."  Yet,  as  he  sat  on  a  bench  in  the 
schoolroom,  fearing  the  immediate  coming  of  his 
tormentor,  he  found  in  the  text,  "I  will  not  fear 
what  man  doeth  unto  me"  (Ps.  cxviii.,  verse  6), 
"a  degree  of  trust  and  confidence  in  God  that  would 

*  Spectator,  July  26th,  1712.     No.  441. 
f  Ibid.,  August  23rd,  1712.     No.  465. 


320  1688-1900 

have  been  no  disgrace  to  a  much  more  experienced 
Christian." 

In  the  language  of  the  Psalms,  again,  he  expressed 
the  despondency  which  ended  in  his  attempted  suicide, 
and  removal  to  a  madhouse.  It  was  a  time  when,  to 
quote  his  own  description  of  his  state  of  mind, 

"  Man  disavows,  and  Deity  disowns  me. 
Hell  might  afford  my  miseries  a  shelter ; 
Therefore  Hell  keeps  her  ever-hungry  mouths  all 
Bolted  against  me." 

Placed  in  Dr  Cotton's  asylum  at  St  Alban's,  he 
recovered.  His  joy,  like  his  despair,  is  clothed  in 
the  words  of  the  Psalms  :  "  The  Lord  is  my  strength 
and  my  song,  and  is  become  my  salvation  "  (Ps.  cxviii., 
verse  14).  "I  said,  I  shall  not  die,  but  live,  and  declare 
the  works  of  the  Lord ;  He  has  chastened  me  sore, 
but  not  given  me  over  unto  death.  O  give  thanks 
unto  the  Lord,  for  His  mercy  endureth  for  ever ! "  (Ps. 
cxviii.,  verses  17,  18,  29).  It  became  his  ambition  to 
be  the  poet  of  Christianity,  and  the  fruits  remain  in 
such  hymns  as,  "  God  moves  in  a  mysterious  way,"  or, 
"  Hark,  my  soul,  it  is  the  Lord,"  or,  "  O  for  a  closer 
walk  with  God." 

It  is  by  a  reference  to  a  psalm  that  Boswell  defends 
the  minuteness  of  detail  with  which,  throughout  the 
most  famous  biography  in  the  English  language,  he 
has  noted  the  conversations  of  Dr  Johnson.  He 
quotes  from  Archbishop  Seeker,  in  whose  tenth 
sermon  there  is  the  following  passage  : — "  Rabbi  David 
Kimchi,  a  noted  Jewish  commentator,  who  lived  about 
five  hundred  years  ago,  explains  that  passage  in  the 
1st  Psalm,  His  leaf  also  shall  not  wither,  from  rabbins 
yet  older  than  himself,  thus  :  That  even  the  idle  talk,  so 


SCOTT  AND  BYRON  321 

he  expresses  it,  of  a  good  man  ought  to  be  regarded ;  the 
most  superfluous  things  he  saith  are  always  of  value." 

Of  Walter  Scott's  familiarity  with  the  Psalms,  his 
novels  give  abundant  evidence,  and  scraps  of  the 
Psalms  were  among  the  last  words  which  his  friends 
could  distinguish  from  his  lips.  A  tour  on  the 
Continent  failed  to  restore  his  health.  But,  from  the 
moment  when,  rounding  the  hill  at  Ladhope,  he 
caught  his  first  glimpse  of  the  outline  of  the  Eildons 
and  of  the  towers  of  Abbotsford,  he  revived.  Sur- 
rounded by  his  dogs,  happy  in  his  home,  conscious 
and  composed,  he  almost  seemed  to  have  hope 
of  recovery.  On  July  17th,  1832,  he  insisted  upon 
being  taken  to  the  study,  and  placed  at  his  desk. 
His  daughter  put  the  pen  into  his  hand,  and  he 
endeavoured  to  close  his  fingers  upon  it ;  but  they 
refused  their  office — it  dropped  on  the  paper.  He 
sank  back  among  his  pillows,  silent  tears  rolling  down 
his  cheek.  The  gallant  spirit  of  the  worn-out  man 
had  made  its  last  effort.  "Friends,"  said  he,  "don't 
let  me  expose  myself — get  me  to  bed — that's  the  only 
place."  From  this  time  his  strength  gradually  declined. 
His  mind  was,  for  the  most  part,  hopelessly  obscured ; 
yet,  when  there  was  any  symptom  of  consciousness,  frag- 
ments of  the  Stabat  Mater  and  the  Dies  Irce  could  some- 
times be  distinguished,  mingled  with  passages  from 
the  Bible,  or  verses  of  the  Psalms  in  the  old  Scottish 
metrical  paraphrase.  He  died  September ,21st,  1832. 

"  Half  a  Scot  by  birth,"  Byron  spent  his  childish 
years  at  Aberdeen.  There,  from  the  teaching  of  his 
nurse,  he  gained  a  love  and  knowledge  of  the  Bible 
which  he  never  lost.  Many  of  the  Psalms,  beginning 
with  the  1st  and  23rd,  he  learned  by  heart.  Still  a 
mere  boy,  yet  already  subject  to  fits  of  melancholy,  he 


322  1688-1900 

found  expression  for  his   mood   in   a  paraphrase  of 
Psalm  lv.,  verse  6  : 

"  Fain  would  I  fly  the  haunts  of  men — 
I  seek  to  shun,  not  hate  mankind ; 
My  breast  requires  the  sullen  glen 

Whose  gloom  may  suit  a  darken'd  mind. 

«  Oh !  that  to  me  the  wings  were  given, 

Which  bear  the  turtle  to  her  nest ! 
Then  would  I  cleave  the  vault  of  Heaven, 
To  flee  away,  and  be  at  rest." 

On  the  Psalms,  as  his  mother  repeated  them  to 
him  in  the  metrical  version  of  Scotland,  James  Hogg, 
the  Ettrick  Shepherd,  nursed  his  childish  imagination, 
and  mingled  with  them  her  tales  of  giants,  kelpies, 
brownies,  and  other  aerial  creations  of  the  fairy  world. 
Before  he  knew  his  letters,  he  could  say  Psalm  cxxii., 
and,  as  he  grew  older,  he  learned  by  heart  the  greater 
part  of  the  Psalter.  The  Bible  was,  in  fact,  the  herd- 
boy's  only  book.  Among  the  pastoral  solitudes  of 
Ettrick,  the  atmosphere  of  which  was  charged  with 
legendary  lore,  and  throbbed  with  the  metrical  beat 
of  David's  Psalms,  he  wove  into  one  exquisite  vision 
the  ideal  and  the  actual  scenes  which  formed  his 
mental  and  bodily  world. 

Here — from  the  lips  of  the  simple  dalesmen  whom 
Wordsworth  loved,  rising  out  of  the  Westmoreland 
valleys  and  rolling  among  the  hills  whence  he  drew 
the  healing  power  of  his  verse — comes, 

"  Mournful,  deep,  and  slow 
The  cadence,  as  of  psalms — a  funeral  dirge ! 
We  listened,  looking  down  upon  the  hut, 
But  seeing  no  one ;  meanwhile  from  below 
The  strain  continued,  spiritual  as  before  ; 
But  now  distinctly  could  I  recognise 
These  words  :  e  Shall  in  the  grave  thy  love  be  known, 
In  death  thy  faithfulness  ?'"* 

*  The  Excursion:  The  Solitary.     Psalm  Ixxxviii.,  verse  11. 


TENNYSON,  ARNOLD,  BROWNING  323 

Here,  in  the  mouth,  not  of  one  of  his  mediaeval 
figures,  but  of  a  homely  rustic,  Tennyson*  places  the 
words  of  Psalm  Ixxxvi.,  verse  15  : — 

"Sin?  O  yes — we  are  sinners,  I  know — let  all  that  be, 
And  read  me  a  Bible  verse  of  the  Lord's  goodwill  towards  men — 
'  Full  of  compassion  and  mercy,  the  Lord,'  let  me  hear  it  again  ; 
'  Full  of  compassion  and  mercy — long  suffering/     Yes,  O  yes  ! 
For  the  lawyer  is  born  but  to  murder,  the  Saviour  lives  but  to  bless." 

Here,  Matthew  Arnold,  quoting  Psalm  xlix.,  verse 
7,  expresses  his  melancholy  sense  of  the  dumbness  of 
Chrises  death-place,  the  silence  of  the  sacred  land,  the 
isolation  of  man,  and  his  inability  to  rise  out  of  philo- 
sophic calm  into  the  exaltation  of  unquestioning  faith  : 

"  From  David's  lips  this  word  did  roll, 

'Tis  true  and  living  yet  : 

No  man  can  save  his  brother's  soul. 

Nor  pay  his  brother's  debt. 
ft  Alone,  self-poised,  henceforward  man 

Must  labour  ;  must  resign 

His  all  too  human  creeds,  and  scan 

Simply  the  way  divine  !  "  t 

Here  are  the  lines  which  Browning  assigns  to  Pom- 
pilia,  as,  before  her  flight,  she  sat  at  the  Carnival,  with 
her  tyrant  husband  crouching  behind  in  the  shadow : 

"  There  is  a  psalm  Don  Celestine  recites, 
'  Had  I  a  dove's  wings,  how  I  fain  would  flee ! ' 
The  psalm  runs  not,  '  I  hope,  I  pray  for  wings/ — 
Not  '  If  wings  fall  from  heaven,  I  fix  them  fast,' — 
Simply,  '  How  good  it  were  to  fly  and  rest, 
Have  hope  now,  and  one  day  expect  content ! 
How  well  to  do  what  I  shall  never  do !  * 
So  I  said,  '  Had  there  been  a  man  like  that, 
To  lift  me  with  his  strength  out  of  all  strife 
Into  the  calm,  how  I  could  fly  and  rest !  "  \ 

*  '•"  Rizpah,"  stanza  xiii. 

t  "Oberman  Once  More."  In  the  1888  edition,  the  first 
of  the  two  stanzas  is  omitted.  Both  are  given  as  printed  in 
the  edition  of  1867. 

I  Ring  and  the  Book.     Pompilia,  11.  991-1000. 


324  1688-1900 

Here  is  the  favourite  verse  of  Elizabeth  Barrett 
Browning,  whose  confidence  in  God's  government  of 
the  world,  though  tearful,  was  unshaken  : 

"  Of  all  the  thoughts  of  God  that  are 
Borne  inward  into  Souls  afar, 

Along  the  Psalmist's  music  deep, 
Now  tell  me  if  that  any  is, 
For  gift  or  grace  surpassing  this : 

'  He  giveth  His  beloved — sleep  ?  '  "  * 

Or  here,  drawn  from  Psalm  Ixxx.,  verse  5,  "Thou 
feedest  them  with  the  bread  of  tears,  and  givest  them 
plenteousness  of  tears  to  drink,"  is  her  lesson  of 
patience : 

"  Shall  we,  then,  who  have  issued  from  the  dust, 
And  there  return — shall  we,  who  toil  for  dust, 
And  wrap  our  winnings  in  this  dusty  life, 
Say,  '  No  more  tears,  Lord  God  ! 
The  measure  runneth  o'er ? '"  f 

"  It  is  He  that  hath  made  us,  and  not  we  our- 
selves," is  the  text  chosen  by  Edward  Fitzgerald  for 
his  tomb.  The  choice  seems  the  defence  for  a  career 
that,  to  many,  and  perhaps  to  the  man  himself  at 
some  moments  of  his  life,  seemed  wasted.  Yet  Fitz- 
gerald had  won  from  Tennyson  a  generous  tribute  of 
praise  for  his 

"  .  .  .  golden  Eastern  lay, 
Than  which  I  know  no  version  done 
In  English  more  divinely  well." 

Loving  and  enjoying  leisure,  he  lived  remote  from 
bustle  and  publicity,  admitting  into  his  paradise  of 
music  and  books  nothing  that  did  not  "  breathe  con- 
tent and  virtue."  Born  with  an  original  mind  and 

*  "The  Sleep/'  stanza  i.  Psalm  cxxvii.,  verse  3. 
t  "  The  Measure,"  stanza  ii. 


RUSKIN  AND  CARLYLE  325 

character,  and  never  endeavouring  to  rub  them  smooth 
by  contact  with  conventionalities,  he  remained  what 
he  was,  and  made  his  life  his  own  peculiar  creation. 

Outside  a  narrow  circle  of  his  contemporaries  Fitz- 
gerald was  barely  known.  But  few  writers  influenced 
their  generation  more  powerfully  than  Euskin  and 
Carlyle.  In  the  purport  of  their  message  they  differed ; 
in  their  manner  of  delivering  it,  they  were  absolutely 
opposed.  Yet,  apart  from  the  affection  which  Carlyle 
bore  to  his  "aethereal"  Kuskin,  they  had  many 
points  in  common.  Both  urged  the  necessity  of  indi- 
viduals and  nations  obeying  the  commandments  of 
God,  Carlyle  insisting  on  the  retribution  that  awaits 
disobedience,  Kuskin  emphasising  the  new  powers 
that  glad  obedience  engenders.  Both  loved  the 
Psalms.  "David's  life  and  history,"  says  Carlyie, 
"as  written  in  those  Psalms  of  his,  I  consider  to  be 
the  truest  emblem  ever  given  of  a  man's  moral  pro- 
gress and  warfare  here  below.  All  earnest  souls  will 
ever  discern  in  it  the  faithful  struggle  of  an  earnest 
human  soul  towards  what  is  good  and  best.  Struggle 
often  baffled,  sore  baffled,  down  as  into  entire  wreck ; 
yet  a  struggle  never  ended ;  ever,  with  tears,  repent- 
ance, true  unconquerable  purpose,  begun  anew."  As 
both  Carlyle  and  Euskin  felt  the  power  of  the  Psalms, 
so  the  spirit  of  both  was  Hebraic.  Neither  was  con- 
tent to  be  a  mere  intellectual  thinker;  both  were, 
above  all,  teachers — aesthetic,  moral,  political  teachers. 
Both  were  on  fire  not  only  to  know  the  right,  but  to 
have  the  right  done.  They  had  the  intense  zeal  for 
action,  combined  with  the  undoubting  affirmation,  of 
the  ancient  prophets.  Both  recognised  the  effect  of 
a  man's  life  on  his  opinions  and  work ;  both  insisted 
on  the  intimate  connection  between  the  moral  con- 


326  1688-1900 

ditions  under  which  a  man  thinks,  and  the  external 
form  or  action  in  which  his  thought  is  clothed.  It  is 
this  perception  which  gives  to  Carlyle's  historical 
writing  its  vivid  human  interest ;  it  is  on  this  percep- 
tion that  Ruskin  founds  his  view,  that  only  the  pure 
in  heart  can  interpret  Nature  adequately,  or  rise  to 
the  highest  expression  of  truth  and  beauty. 

To  compare  the  influence  of  the  two  men  would 
be  scarcely  relevant  to  the  subject.  It  is,  however, 
probably  true,  that  Carlyle  taught  the  thinkers,  Ruskin 
the  doers :  Carlyle  stimulated  morals,  Ruskin  action. 
Carlyle's  gospel  of  work,  force,  and  strength  supplied 
no  additional  impulses  beyond  those  by  which  men  of 
practical  energy  felt  themselves  to  be  already  actuated ; 
but  theorists  were  roused  by  the  suggestion  of  the 
advent  of  a  leader,  who,  in  his  strength,  should  govern 
by  the  profoundest  principles  that  abstract  thought 
could  formulate.  Ruskin's  influence,  on  the  other 
hand,  has  been  chiefly  felt  in  actual  life.  In  the 
presence  of  nature,  he  gave  to  ordinary  people  eyes. 
In  aesthetic  criticism,  he  opposed  the  spiritual  to  the 
sensuous  theory  of  Art.  In  painting,  he  gave  a  new 
creed  to  a  new  school.  In  architecture,  he  stimulated 
the  Gothic  revival.  In  the  political  and  social  world, 
his  insistance  on  the  moral  dignity  and  destiny  of 
man  created  new  standards  as  the  tests  of  economic 
questions,  and  humanised  the  iron  laws  of  supply  and 
demand. 

Ruskin,  as  soon  as  he  was  able  to  read  with 
fluency,  studied  the  Bible  by  his  mother's  side  as  few 
children  were  ever  taught  to  study  its  pages.  Among 
the  passages  that  he  learned  by  heart,  were  Psalms 
xxiii.,  xxxii.,  xc.,  xci.,  ciii.,  cxii.,  cxix.,  cxxxix.  Of 
Psalm  cxix.  he  says :  "  It  is  strange,  that  of  all  the 


RUSKIN'S  USE  OF  THE  PSALMS  327 

pieces  of  the  Bible  which  my  mother  thus  taught  me, 
that  which  cost  me  most  to  learn,  and  which  was,  to 
my  child's  mind,  chiefly  repulsive — the  119th  Psalm 
— has  now  become  of  all  the  most  precious  to  me,  in 
its  overflowing  and  glorious  passion  of  love  for  the 
law  of  God." 

From  the  Psalms  might  be  collected,  so  Kuskin 
taught,  a  complete  system  of  personal,  economical, 
and  political  prudence — a  compendium  of  human  life. 
What  "Tibullus"  in  Jonson's  Poetaster  says  of 
Virgil,  E-uskin  in  effect  says  of  the  Psalmist's  work  : 

"That  which  he  hath  writ 
Is  with  such  judgment  labour' d,  and  distill'd 
Through  all  the  needful  uses  of  our  lives, 
That  could  a  man  remember  but  his  lines, 
He  should  not  touch  at  any  serious  point 
But  he  might  breathe  his  spirit  out  of  him." 

In  Our  Fathers  have  told  us,  Kuskin  urges  that  the 
first  half  of  the  Psalter  sums  up  all  the  wisdom  of 
society  and  of  the  individual.  Psalms  i.,  viii.,  xii.,  xiv., 
xv.,  xix.,  xxiii.,  xxiv.,  well  studied  and  believed, 
suffice  for  all  personal  guidance ;  Psalms  xlviii., 
Ixxii.,  Ixxv.,  contain  the  law  and  the  prophecy  of 
all  just  government ;  Psalm  civ.  anticipates  every 
triumph  of  natural  science.  On  the  Psalms  is  also 
founded  much  of  Ruskin's  aesthetic  teaching.  The 
guiding  principle  of  Modern  Painters  is  that  glad 
submission  to  the  Divine  law  which  is  the  keynote 
to  Psalm  cxix.  Throughout  those  parts  of  the  Bible 
which,  says  E-uskin,  people  "are  intended  to  make 
most  personally  their  own  (the  Psalms),  it  is  always 
the  law  which  is  spoken  of  with  chief  joy.  The 
Psalms  respecting  mercy  are  often  sorrowful,  as  in 
thought  of  what  it  cost;  but  those  respecting  the 


328  1688-1900 

law  are  always  full  of  delight.  David  cannot  con- 
tain himself  for  joy  thinking  of  it — he  is  never  weary 
of  its  praise  :  '  How  love  I  Thy  law !  it  is  my  medita- 
tion all  the  day.  Thy  testimonies  are  my  delight  and 
my  counsellors;  sweeter  also  than  honey  and  the 
honeycomb ' "  (Ps.  cxix.,  verse  24).  By  the  love 
that  inspires  obedience  to  law,  Ruskin  was  separated 
from  the  rising  school  of  science;  by  the  fruits  of 
that  obedience — precision,  exactitude,  fidelity,  realism 
— he  was  distinguished  from  the  followers  of  the  ex- 
piring romantic  school  of  art.  His  own  teaching  was 
that,  by  the  two  qualities  in  combination,  in  other 
words,  by  docility  and  faith,  men  may  win  back  the 
childlike  heart  which  alone  penetrates  the  mysteries 
of  nature,  and  regain  the  power  of  expressing  the 
beauty  and  truth  with  which  the  external  world 
reveals  the  Divine  law. 

Throughout  all  Buskin's  work  there  runs  this  con- 
necting link  of  glad  submission  to  the  law  of  God. 
His  numerous  volumes,  touching  manifold  sides  of 
life,  resemble  those  pious  tomes  of  the  Middle  Ages 
into  which  men  wove  the  totality  of  their  learning  and 
the  ardour  of  their  faith.  Their  design  seems,  and  is, 
disordered  by  endless  digressions ;  but  all  the  lines 
converge  on  the  Divine  object  of  their  love.  So 
Euskin's  work  is  at  once  a  Speculum  Muncli  and  a 
Speculum  Dei  it  is  a  mirror  of  the  world  and  of  God 
in  the  world.  Through  all  his  books  runs  the  golden 
thread  of  cheerful  obedience  to  the  Divine  law. 
Especially  is  this  true  of  Modern  Painters,  which  is 
not  only  a  beautiful  treatise  on  art,  but  also  the 
impassioned  expression  of  an  adoring  faith.  The 
subject  is  handled  as  it  might  have  been  treated  by  a 
mediaeval  mystic,  or  a  Franciscan  poet.  Still  more  is 


THE  MESSAGE  OF  CREATION  329 

it  conceived  in  the  spirit  of  the  Psalmist.  As,  in  his 
exquisite  prose,  Ruskin  interprets  to  the  nineteenth 
century  God's  message  of  creation,  so  David  sang  of 
God's  handiwork,  while  he  shepherded  his  sheep  on 
the  lonely  uplands  of  Palestine.  "He  who,  in  any 
way  " — the  words  are  Carlyle's — "  shews  us  better  than 
we  knew  before,  that  a  lily  of  the  fields  is  beautiful, 
does  he  not  shew  it  us  as  an  effluence  of  the  Fountain 
of  all  Beauty ;  as  the  handwriting,  made  visible  there, 
of  the  great  Maker  of  the  Universe  ?  He  has  sung 
for  us,  made  us  sing  with  him,  '  a  little  verse  of  a 
sacred  Psalm/  " 


CHAPTER  XII. 
1688-1900  (continued) 

The  Psalms  in  philanthropic  movements — Prison  Reform  and  John 
Howard ;  in  missionary  enterprises  —  John  Eliot,  David 
Brainerd,  William  Carey,  Henry  Martyn,  Alexander  Duff, 
Allen  Gardiner,  David  Livingstone,  Bishop  Hannington ;  in 
ordinary  life — Colonel  Gardiner,  Thomas  Carlyle,  Jane  Welsh 
Carlyle ;  in  secular  history — Brittany  and  La  Vendee,  the 
execution  of  Madame  de  Noailles,  the  evacuation  of  Moscow 
in  1812,  the  Revolution  of  1848,  Bourget  in  the  Franco- 
German  War  of  1870-1,  Captain  Conolly  at  Bokhara  and 
Havelock  at  Jellalabad,  Duff,  Edwards,  and  "Quaker" 
Wallace  in  the  Indian  Mutiny,  the  Boer  War. 

IN  the  preceding  chapter,  the  influence  of  the  Psalms 
during  the  last  two  centuries  has  been  illustrated 
from  the  lives  and  writings  of  leaders  of  religion, 
science,  and  literature.  Within  the  same  period, 
their  power  may  be  traced,  not  only  in  philanthropic 
movements  or  missionary  enterprises,  but  also  in 
ordinary  life  and  secular  history. 

The  religious  reawakening  which  revolutionised 
England  in  the  latter  half  of  the  eighteenth  century, 
inspired  numerous  efforts  towards  social  progress. 
The  abolition  of  the  Slave  Trade,  the  foundation  of 
the  Bible  Society,  the  educational  work  of  Baikes 
and  Lancaster,  were  the  outcome  of  new  and  higher 
standards  of  life.  Among  efforts  to  improve  social 


JOHN  HOWARD  331 

conditions,  an  honourable  place  belongs  to  the  struggle 
for  Prison  Reform,  which  is  inseparably  associated 
with  the  name  of  John  Howard  (1726-90).  In  all 
the  stages  of  its  progress,  the  Psalms  were  at  work. 

In  1755,  on  Howard's  voyage  to  Lisbon,  the 
Hanover  packet,  in  which  he  was  sailing,  was  captured 
by  a  French  privateer.  Herded  together  in  a  filthy 
dungeon  at  Brest,  he  and  his  companions  experienced 
the  horrors  of  imprisonment.  The  memory  of  his 
own  sufferings  may  well  have  lingered  in  his  mind. 
But  it  was  not  till  1773,  nearly  twenty  years  after- 
wards, that  he  began  to  devote  himself  to  Prison 
Reform.  While  serving  as  High  Sheriff  for  the 
County,  Howard  officially  inspected  the  Bedfordshire 
jails.  Horror-struck  at  the  sufferings  of  the  prisoners, 
whether  criminals  or  debtors,  he  began  his  investiga- 
tions in  England,  and  gradually  extended  his  visits 
to  Scotland,  Ireland,  and  the  Continent.  In  the  damp, 
unwholesome  cells,  ill-lighted  and  badly-ventilated, 
where  prisoners  were  confined  without  exercise  or  em- 
ployment, jail  fever  and  smallpox  raged.  Howard's 
visits  were  paid  in  peril  of  his  life.  But  "  Hold  Thou 
up  my  goings  "  (Ps.  xvii.,  verse  5)  was  the  text  which 
encouraged  him  to  persevere.  The  fever  had  no 
terrors  for  him.  "Trusting,"  he  says,  "in  Divine 
Providence,  and  believing  myself  in  the  way  of  my 
duty,  I  visit  the  most  noxious  cells,  and  while  so 
doing  '  I  fear  no  evil ' "  (Ps.  xxiii.,  verse  4).  Yet  he 
did  not  always  escape.  At  Lille,  in  May  1783,  he 
caught  the  fever.  It  is  in  the  language  of  the  Psalms 
that  he  expresses  his  gratitude  for  his  recovery  :  "  For 
many  days  I  have  been  in  pain  and  sorrow,  the  sen- 
tence of  death  was,  as  it  were,  upon  me,  but  I  cried 
unto  the  Lord,  and  He  heard  me.  Blessed,  for  ever 


332  1688-1900 

blessed,  be  the  name  of  the  Lord/'  A  deeply  religious 
man,  he  jots  down  in  his  memorandum  books  his 
pious  ejaculations  and  secret  aspirations.  Often  his 
thoughts  are  couched  in  the  words  of  the  Psalmist. 
As  an  example,  may  be  quoted  two  entries  from  his 
Diary,  made  when  he  was  lying  ill  at  the  Hague  in 
1778:  "May  13th. — In  pain  and  anguish  all  Night 
.  .  .  help,  Lord,  for  vain  is  the  help  of  Man.  In  Thee 
do  I  put  my  trust,  let  me  not  be  confounded.  May  14Jh. 
— This  Night  my  Fever  abaited,  my  Pains  less  .  .  . 
Eighteous  art  Thou  in  all  Thy  ways,  and  holy  in  all 
Thy  works  .  .  .  bring  me  out  of  the  Furnace  as  Silver 
purified  seven  times." 

From  a  Psalm  (Ixxix.,  verse  12)  is  taken  the 
motto  on  the  title-page  of  his  Account  of  Lazarettos, 
"O  let  the  sorrowful  sighing  of  the  prisoners  come 
before  thee,"  and  he  chose  it  because  he  had  himself 
observed  the  effect  which  the  words  produced  on 
the  minds  of  the  prisoners  in  Lancaster  Gaol.  In 
1789,  he  left  England  on  the  journey  which  ended 
with  his  death  at  Kherson.  He  had  previously 
chosen  the  inscription  for  his  monument,  left 
directions  for  his  funeral,  and  even  selected  the 
text  for  the  sermon  which  his  friend  and  pastor 
would  preach  on  the  event.  The  text  was  Psalm 
xvii.,  verse  16.  "That  text,"  he  says,  "is  the  most, 
appropriate  to  my  feelings  of  any  I  know;  for  I 
can  indeed  join  with  the  Psalmist  in  saying,  'As 
for  me,  I  will  behold  thy  face  in  righteousness ;  and 
when  I  awake  up  after  thy  likeness,  I  shall  be 
satisfied  with  it.'" 

Howard's  work  among  prisoners  was  continued, 
on  different  lines,  by  women  like  Elizabeth  Fry 
and  Sarah  Martin.  But  meanwhile  missionary 


JOHN  ELIOT  333 

enterprise  was  taking  wider  and  more  daring  flight. 
In  June  1793,  William  Carey  and  his  colleague 
sailed  for  India.  So  opposed  to  the  policy  of  the 
East  India  Company  was  the  idea  of  a  Christian 
mission,  that  they  were  obliged  to  embark  in  a 
Danish  East  Indiaman,  and  to  settle  in  Danish 
territory.  Nearly  a  century  later,  in  April  1874, 
David  Livingstone  was  buried  in  Westminster 
Abbey  : 

"  Open  the  Abbey  doors  and  bear  him  in 

To  sleep  with  king  and  statesman,  chief  and  sage, 
The  missionary  come  of  weaver  kin, 

But  great  by  work  that  brooks  no  lower  wage." 

The  contrast  marks  the  revulsion  of  public  opinion, 
and  suggests  the  importance  of  a  movement  which 
is  among  the  marvels  of  the  nineteenth  century 

For  Protestant  England,  the  history  of  missions 
to  the  heathen  begins  with  John  Eliot  (1604-90),  the 
son  of  a  Hertfordshire  yeoman,  an  early  settler  in 
New  England  for  conscience'  sake,  and  one  of  the 
three  authors  of  the  metrical  version  of  the  Psalms, 
which  was  known  as  the  Bay  Psalm  Book  (1640). 
Few  names  in  American  history  are  more  truly 
venerable  than  that  of  the  man  who  gave  the  best 
years  of  his  life  to  the  task  of  preaching  the  Gospel 
to  the  Red  Indians.  Rising  above  the  special  faults 
which  beset  the  religion  of  his  contemporaries,  he 
was  neither  sour,  nor  gloomy,  nor  fanatical — a  kindly  - 
natured,  tender-hearted  man — who  always  stored  the 
deep  pockets  of  his  horseman's  cloak  with  presents 
for  the  papooses.  His  metrical  version  of  the  Psalms 
in  the  Indian  dialect  of  Massachusetts  (1658)  was 
the  first  part  of  the  Bible  which  he  published,  and 
in  the  singing  of  the  Psalms  he  found  the  readiest 


334  1688-1900 

means  of  arresting  the  attention  of  his  hearers,  and 
the  simplest  expression  for  the  religious  feelings  of 
the  infants  of  humanity. 

Eliot's  communities  of  "  Praying  Indians  "  were 
dead  or  dying  before  his  successor  began  his  mission 
work  among  the  Indians  of  Delaware  and  Penn- 
sylvania. The  Journal  of  David  Brainerd  (1718-47), 
as  published  in  Jonathan  Edwards'  account  of  his 
life  (1765),  is  a  remarkable  piece  of  spiritual  auto- 
biography. In  words  which  are  largely  drawn  from 
the  Psalms,  it  traces  the  inner  life  of  the  thoughtful, 
somewhat  melancholy  youth,  who,  growing  up  in 
his  father's  home  in  Connecticut,  or  working  on  his 
own  farm,  resolved  to  devote  his  whole  life,  first  as 
a  minister,  then  as  a  missionary  to  the  Indians  of 
Delaware  and  Pennsylvania.  Five  years  (1742-7)  of 
toil,  anxiety,  exposure,  and  privation,  did  their  work 
on  a  sickly,  overwrought  frame.  At  the  age  of 
thirty,  Brainerd  died  of  consumption,  with  the  words 
of  Psalm  cii.,  sung  at  his  bedside  by  his  friends,  still 
ringing  in  his  ears. 

The  Journal  is  a  forgotten  book.  It  contains 
few  illuminating  thoughts;  it  breathes  a  theology 
which  to  many  men  is  repellent ;  it  speaks  a  technical 
language,  which,  from  less  saintly  and  simple  lips, 
might  nauseate  the  modern  reader.  Yet  the  picture 
it  presents  of  utter  self-surrender,  and  of  concentrated 
single-minded  effort,  is  singularly  impressive.  As  a 
record  of  religious  conflict  and  spiritual  triumph, 
it  may  be  contrasted  with  the  autobiographies  of 
Bunyan  or  Henry  Martyn.  It  shows  little  of  the 
dramatic  force  and  picture -making  imagination  of 
the  Grace  Abounding;  it  reveals  scarcely  a  trace  of 
the  natural  struggle  with  human  ties  and  passions, 


DAVID  BRAINERD  335 

which  gives  to  Martyn's  Journal  so  pathetic,  and  even 
romantic,  an  interest.  But,  bare,  simple,  detached 
though  it  is,  it  stands  apart  from  similar  diaries  by 
reason  of  its  absorption  in  the  one  object  of 
Brainerd's  life — the  strenuous,  concentrated  effort  to 
attain  nearness  to  God. 

The  early  stages  of  his  progress  are  common 
enough.  His  transient  self-satisfaction  in  doing  duty 
passed  away,  leaving  him  so  despondent  that,  like 
Bunyan,  he  "begrutched  the  birds  and  beasts  their 
happiness,"  and  fancied  that  mountains  obstructed 
his  hopes  of  mercy.  In  alternate  joy  and  despair  he 
continued,  till,  in  October  1740,  his  temper  and  habit 
of  mind  underwent  a  change.  New  and  higher  views 
of  God  and  His  relation  to  man  seemed  to  take 
possession  of  his  soul.  There  was  no  special  call,  no 
vision,  no  sudden  application  of  some  special  passage 
of  Scripture  to  his  own  particular  case.  The  change 
came  over  him  quietly,  without  violent  personal  im- 
pressions. But  it  was  absolute  and  permanent. 
Henceforward  he  had  the  "full  assurance  of  hope," 
and  retained  it  "unto  the  end."  But  this  confidence 
only  made  him  more  humble-minded,  more  conscious 
of  his  own  shortcomings.  Externally,  it  impelled  him 
to  greater  activity  in  his  missionary  work ;  in  his 
inner  life,  it  was  the  nourishment  of  his  spiritual 
growth,  the  source  of  his  love  and  longing  for  purity 
of  heart,  the  spring  of  that  passion  for  holiness,  which 
banished  all  motives  of  fear  and  self-interest,  inspired 
his  eager  pursuit  on  earth  of  things  above,  and  created 
his  ideal  of  the  beauty  of  heaven. 

The  Journal  is  permeated  with  the  power  of  the 
Psalms.  So  much  have  they  become  part  of  his 
habitual  thoughts,  that  his  hopes,  fears,  and  aspira- 


336  1688-1900 

tions  flow  naturally  into  language  which  recalls,  even 
when  it  does  not  reproduce,  the  actual  words.  On  the 
Psalms  are  based  the  "  five  distinguishing  marks  of  a 
true  Christian"  which  Brainerd  gives  from  what  he 
had  himself  "felt  and  experienced"  and  the  fifth  may 
be  taken  as  some  illustration  of  his  character  and  life : — 

"The  laws  of  God  are  his  delight,  Psalm  cxix., 
verse  97  ('Lord,  what  love  have  I  unto  Thy  law  ;  all 
the  day  long  is  my  study  in  it ').  These  he  observes, 
not  out  of  constraint,  from  a  servile  fear  of  hell ;  but 
they  are  his  choice,  Psalm  cxix.,  verse  30  ('I  have 
chosen  the  way  of  truth  ;  and  Thy  judgments  have  I 
laid  before  me ').  The  strict  observance  of  them  is  not 
his  bondage,  but  his  greatest  liberty,  Psalm  cxix., 
verse  45  ('  And  I  will  walk  at  liberty ;  for  I  seek  Thy 
commandments')."  It  is  on  the  same  foundation 
that  in  the  Journal  Brainerd  builds  his  own  assur- 
ance of  hope.  "That  holy  confidence,"  he  writes, 
"can  only  arise  from  the  testimony  of  a  good 
conscience.  'Then/  says  the  holy  psalmist,  'shall 
I  not  be  ashamed  when  I  have  respect  unto  all  Thy 
commandments ' "  (Ps.  cxix.,  verse  6). 

Brainerd's  Journal  is,  as  has  been  said,  a  forgotten 
book.  Yet  it  would  be  difficult  to  measure  the  magni- 
tude of  the  results  which  it  indirectly  produced.  It 
fired  the  imagination  of  William  Carey  ;  it  stirred  the 
zeal  of  Henry  Martyn ;  it  inspired  the  decision  of 
David  Livingstone  to  become  a  missionary.  In  his 
Diary  for  19th  April  1794,  Carey  makes  this  entry  : — 
"I  was  much  humbled  to-day  by  reading  Brainerd. 
O  what  a  disparity  betwixt  me  and  him  !  He  always 
constant,  I  as  inconstant  as  the  wind."  Martyn,  who 
repeatedly  refers  to  the  same  book,  made  the  life  of 
Brainerd  his  human  ideal.  Such  references  as  the 


WILLIAM  CAREY  337 

following  might  be  multiplied  : — "  7th  November  1803. 
— I  thought  of  David  Brainerd,  and  ardently  desired 
his  devotedness  to  God  and  holy  breathings  of  soul." 
"  23rd  September  1803.  Eead  David  Brainerd  to-day, 
and  yesterday,  and  find,  as  usual,  my  spirit  greatly 
benefited  by  it.  I  long  to  be  like  him  :  let  me  forget 
the  world,  and  be  swallowed  in  a  desire  to  glorify 
God." 

From  Eliot  and  Brainerd,  William  Carey  (1761- 
1834)  traced  his  spiritual  lineage.  The  son  of  the 
parish  clerk  and  schoolmaster  of  Paulerspury,  in 
Northamptonshire,  he  became  a  Baptist  in  October 
1783.  Like  Hans  Sachs,  the  poet  of  the  German 
Eeformation,  or  George  Fox,  the  Quaker,  or  Jacob 
Bohme,  the  mystic,  he  was  by  trade  a  shoemaker. 
Working  at  his  business,  preaching,  teaching,  a 
married  man  and  a  father,  burdened  with  a  debt 
which  he  had  undertaken  for  his  wife's  first  husband, 
he  found  time  to  teach  himself  French,  Latin,  Greek, 
and  Hebrew.  In  his  daily  prayers  for  slaves  and 
heathen,  he  conceived  the  thought,  which  gradually 
shaped  itself  in  practical  form,  that  he  would  convert 
the  heathen  world  by  giving  them  the  Bible  in  their 
native  tongues.  He  brought  the  subject  before  the 
assembled  ministers  of  his  persuasion,  only  to  be 
silenced  as  a  fanatic.  But  his  enthusiasm  and  per- 
tinacity were  at  length  rewarded.  At  Kettering,  in 
October  1792,  in  the  low-roofed  back  parlour  of 
Widow  Wallis,  twelve  Baptist  ministers  formed  the 
Particular  Baptist  Society  for  Propagating  the  Gospel 
among  the  Heathen.  A  few  weeks  later  it  was  decided 
that  Carey  should  be  sent  out  to  Bengal  with  Thomas, 
a  surgeon  who  had  already  worked  as  a  missionary  in 
India.  A  verse  from  the  Psalms,  "  O  come,  let  us  v 

v 


338  1688-1900 

worship  and  fall  down,  and  kneel  before  the  Lord  our 
Maker  "  (Ps.  xcv.,  verse  6),  was  already  inscribed  by 
Christian  Friedrich  Schwartz  (1726-97)  over  the  portal 
of  his  Mission  Church  of  Bethlehem  at  Tranquebar.  It 
was  a  psalm  (xvi.,  verse  4),  "They  that  run  after 
another  God  shall  have  great  trouble,"  which  supplied 
the  text  of  the  sermon  preached  at  the  service  held  to 
dedicate  Carey  to  his  work.  Thus  was  launched,  to 
quote  Sydney  Smith's  sneer,  by  a  few  "  consecrated 
cobblers,"  the  first  English  mission  to  the  heathen  in 
India. 

Carey  left  England,  determined  never  to  return. 
The  resolution  cost  him  something.  Among  the  seeds 
which,  years  later,  he  sowed  in  his  garden  at  Seram- 
pore  were  those  of  the  daisy.  "I  know  not,"  he 
wrote,  "that  I  ever  enjoyed  since  leaving  Europe,  a 
simple  pleasure  so  exquisite  as  the  sight  which  this 
English  daisy  afforded  me ;  not  having  seen  one  for 
thirty  years,  and  never  expecting  to  see  one  again." 
During  his  long,  laborious  career,  thirty-four  transla- 
tions of  the  Bible  were  made  or  edited  by  him.  He 
himself  completed  the  Bengali,  Hindi,  Maratti,  and 
Sanskrit  versions.  His  paper  factories  created  a  new 
industry.  Not  only  was  he  one  of  the  first  of  Oriental 
scholars,  but  he  was  a  scientific  botanist,  an  enthusi- 
astic farmer,  an  ardent  student  of  natural  history. 
Yet,  with  him,  science  was  always  subordinated  to 
religion.  It  is  a  text  from  the  Psalms,  "  All  thy  works 
praise  thee,  O  Lord  "  (Ps.  cxlv.,  verse  10),  that  he  pre- 
fixed to  his  edition  of  Roxburgh's  Flora  Indica  (1820). 
It  was  with  the  words  of  a  psalm  in  his  mind  that  he 
desired  to  end  his  life.  In  December  1823,  he  lay, 
as  he  thought,  dying.  "I  had  no  joys,"  he  writes; 
"  nor  any  fear  of  death  or  reluctance  to  die  ;  but  never 


HENRY  MARTYN  339 

was  I  so  sensibly  convinced  of  the  value  of  an  Atoning 
Saviour  as  then.  I  could  only  say,  '  Hangs  my  help- 
less soul  on  Thee/  and  adopt  the  language  of  the 
first  and  second  verses  of  the  51st  Psalm,  which  I 
desired  might  be  the  text  of  my  funeral  sermon, 
'  Have  mercy  upon  me,  O  God,  after  Thy  great  good- 
ness :  according  to  the  multitude  of  Thy  mercies  do 
away  mine  offences.  Wash  me  throughly  from  my 
wickedness,  and  cleanse  me  from  my  sin." 

Carey  survived  his  illness  for  nearly  eleven  years. 
He  lived  to  see  the  tone  of  Anglo-Indian  society  trans- 
formed, and  the  worst  cruelties  of  the  Hindoo  religion 
suppressed.  He  lived  also  to  see  two  of  his  greatest 
successors  among  Indian  missionaries.  In  the  prime 
of  his  manhood,  he  welcomed  Henry  Martyn  to  India  ; 
at  the  close  of  his  own  career  he  blessed  Alexander 
Duff,  tottering  with  outstretched  hands  to  meet  the 
ruddy  Highlander — "  a  little  yellow  old  man  in  a  white 
jacket." 

Both  Eliot  and  Carey  had  left  the  Anglican  Church 
before  they  began  their  missionary  labours  ;  the  work 
of  Bunyan,  Baxter,  Howard,  and  Wesley  was  done 
outside  her  organisation.  But  Henry  Martyn  (1781- 
1812)  lived,  laboured,  and  died  a  faithful  member  of 
her  communion.  It  is  this  contrast  which  marks  the 
special  importance  of  Martyn's  life  and  death,  as  the 
first  Anglican  missionary  to  the  heathen,  the  precursor 
of  a  long  line  of  heroes,  the  spiritual  ancestor  of  men  of 
the  type  of  Bishop  Patteson  and  Bishop  Hannington. 

Senior  wrangler  at  Cambridge  in  1801,  a  brilliant 
classic  as  well  as  a  mathematician,  a  fellow  of  St 
John's  College  (1802),  Martyn  was  ordained  in 
October  1803.  He  had  already  resolved  to  devote 
his  life  and  abilities  to  missionary  work.  To  this 


340  1688-1900 

resolution  he  was  drawn,  partly  by  the  example  of 
Carey,  partly,  as  has  been  shown,  by  the  career  of 
David  Brainerd.  Appointed  at  the  close  of  1804  to 
an  East  Indian  Company's  chaplaincy,  he  sailed  for 
Calcutta  in  July  1805.  The  sacrifice  was  costly. 
On  the  one  side,  were  the  consciousness  of  talents, 
achieved  success,  a  growing  reputation,  congenial  pur- 
suits, material  comfort,  affection  for  his  home,  kindred, 
friends,  and,  above  all,  his  love  for  Lydia  Grenfell.  On 
the  other  side,  were  exile,  solitude,  obscure  employ- 
ment among  ignorant  aliens,  possibility  of  failure,  sur- 
render of  the  comforts  and  refinements  of  a  scholarly, 
literary  life,  separation  from  kindred  and  acquaint- 
ances, abandonment  of  his  prospects  of  marriage 
with  the  being  who  was  dearest  to  him  on  earth.  It 
is  this  human  struggle,  chronicled  with  abundant 
wealth  of  detail,  which  gives  to  his  final  victory  its 
pathos,  its  romance,  and,  for  ordinary  men,  its  vital 
interest.  The  Diary  depicts,  with  all  the  fluctuations 
of  success  and  defeat,  the  hard-won  conquest  of  self 
by  a  creature  of  flesh  and  blood,  not  the  easy  triumph 
achieved  over  the  weak  passions  of  earth  by  some  dis- 
embodied spirit. 

In  his  Diary  for  July  29th,  1804,  Martyn  speaks 
for  the  first  time  of  his  love  for  Lydia  Grenfell :  "  I 
felt  too  plainly  that  I  loved  her  passionately.  The 
direct  opposition  of  this  to  my  devotedness  to  God  in 
the  missionary  way,  excited  no  small  tumult  in  my 
mind."  Or  again,  a  month  later  (27th  August) : 
"  Beading  in  the  afternoon  to  Lydia  alone,  from  Dr 
Watts,  there  happened  to  be,  among  other  things,  a 
prayer  on  entire  preference  of  God  to  the  creature. 
Now,  thought  I,  here  am  I  in  the  presence  of  God 
and  my  idol.  ...  I  continued  conversing  with  her, 


A  DIVIDED  HEART  341 

generally  with  my  heart  in  heaven,  but  every  now 
and  then  resting  on  her.  .  .  .  Parted  with  Lydia,  per- 
haps for  ever  in  this  life.  Walked  to  St  Hilary, 
determining,  in  great  tumult  and  inward  pain,  to  be 
the  servant  of  God."  Martyn  tore  himself  away  from 
the  living  woman  to  perfect  his  union  with  his  exalted 
ideal  of  conduct.  On  the  last  day  of  the  same  year 
(December  31st),  when  he  was  waiting  for  news  of 
his  definite  appointment  to  the  Indian  chaplaincy,  he 
makes  the  following  entry,  clothing  his  self-surrender 
in  the  familiar  words  of  Psalm  xxxi.,  verse  6 :  "So 
closes  the  easy  part  of  my  life;  enriched  by  every 
earthly  comfort,  and  caressed  by  friends,  I  may 
scarcely  be  said  to  have  experienced  trouble ;  but 
now,  farewell  ease,  if  I  might  presume  to  conjecture. 
'  O  Lord,  into  Thy  hands  I  commit  my  spirit !  Thou 
hast  redeemed  me,  Thou  God  of  truth ! '  may  I  be 
saved  by  Thy  grace,  and  be  sanctified  to  do  Thy  will, 
and  to  all  eternity ;  through  Jesus  Christ." 

The  struggle  was  not  over.  It  was  renewed  again 
and  again.  In  a  sense  it  ceased  only  with  his  life. 
Few  passages  in  the  Journal  are  more  pathetic  than 
those  which  record  Martyn's  feelings  during  the  deten- 
tion of  his  ship  at  Falmouth  and  at  Mounts  Bay. 
At  Miss  Grenfell's  house  at  Marazion,  on  August 
10th,  1805,  came  the  final  parting.  On  board  ship, 
throughout  his  labours  among  English  soldiers  and 
natives  at  Dinapore  and  Cawnpore,  in  the  midst  of 
his  toil  in  translating  the  New  Testament  into  Hindu- 
stani and  Persian,  in  his  journey  through  Persia,  in 
his  religious  disputes  at  Shiraz,  he  never  swerved 
from  his  purpose,  never  relaxed  his  efforts  to  conquer 
himself — and  never  forgot  his  love. 

On  the  eve  of  his  departure  from  Cawnpore,  when 


342  1688-1900 

the  fatal  signs  of  consumption  had  declared  themselves, 
and  a  sea  voyage  seemed  the  only  chance  of  life,  he 
makes  this  entry  :  "  23rd  September  1811. — Was  walk- 
ing with  Lydia ;  both  much  affected  ;  and  speaking  on 
things  dearest  to  us  both.  I  awoke,  and  behold  it 
was  a  dream !  My  mind  remained  very  solemn  and 
pensive ;  I  :shed  tears.  The  clock  struck  three,  and 
the  moon  was  riding  near  her  highest  noon ;  all  was 
silence  and  solemnity,  and  I  thought  with  pain  of  the 
sixteen  thousand  miles  between  us.  But  good  is  the 
will  of  the  Lord !  even  if  I  see  her  no  more."  Side 
by  side  with  this  entry,  there  are  scattered  throughout 
the  pages  of  the  Journal  almost  innumerable  refer- 
ences to  the  Psalms,  and  illustrations  of  their  power 
to  soothe  and  encourage.  In  the  stress  of  his  struggle 
in  1804,  he  found  that,  by  learning  portions  of  the 
Psalms  by  heart,  he  quickened  his  devotional  feelings, 
and  in  this  way  committed  to  memory  Psalm  cxix.  It 
was  a  psalm  (x.)  that  he  was  reading  to  Lydia  Gren- 
fell  when  he  was  hastily  summoned  to  rejoin  his  ship, 
and  they  parted  for  ever  on  earth.  During  his  long 
and  tedious  voyage,  surrounded  by  uncongenial  com- 
panions, it  was  to  the  Psalms  that  he  turned  for 
comfort.  Day  after  day  the  entries  in  his  Journal 
of  the  daily  events  of  his  life  began  with  a  verse  from 
the  Psalms,  followed  by  a  short  comment.  From  the 
Psalms  he  drew  encouragement  in  his  missionary 
enterprise.  Thus  (December  10th,  1805)  he  quotes 
Psalm  xxii.,  verse  27  :  "All  the  ends  of  the  earth  shall 
remember,  and  be  turned  to  the  Lord  "  ;  and  thus  con- 
tinues, "  Sooner  or  later,  they  shall  remember  what  is 
preached  to  them,  and  though  missionaries  may  not 
live  to  see  the  fruits  of  their  labours,  yet  the  memory 
of  their  words  shall  remain,  and  in  due  time  shall  be 


DEATH  OF  MARTYN  343 

the  means  of  turning  them  unto  the  Lord."  In  failing 
health,  and  sleepless  nights,  assailed  by  temptation, 
yet  straining  after  purity  of  heart,  his  "hope  and 
trust "  is  in  the  words,  "  Purge  me  with  hyssop,  and  I 
shall  be  clean ;  wash  me,  and  I  shall  be  whiter  than 
snow "  (Ps.  li.,  verse  7).  At  Shiraz,  in  the  midst  of 
daily  disputes  with  Mahometan  doctors,  and  the 
laborious  revision  of  his  Persian  translation  of  the 
New  Testament,  he  found  "a  sweet  employment" 
in  translating  the  Psalms  into  Persian.  The  work 
"caused  six  weary  moons,  that  waxed  and  waned 
since  its  commencement,  to  pass  unnoticed."  It  was 
the  Psalms  that  soothed  the  fatigue  of  his  headlong 
ride  from  Tabriz  to  Tokat  on  his  homeward  journey : 
"4th  September  1812. — I  beguiled  the  hours  of  the 
night  by  thinking  of  the  14th  Psalm."  "10th  September. 
— All  day  at  the  village,  writing  down  notes  on  the 
15th  and  16th  Psalms." 

The  closing  weeks  of  his  life  bring  into  touching 
juxtaposition  his  earthly  and  his  heavenly  love.  He 
had  resolved  to  abandon  his  scheme  of  translating  the 
Bible  into  Arabic,  and  to  return  home  from  Tabriz 
by  Constantinople.  In  one  of  his  last  letters,  written 
three  months  before  his  death,  he  tells  Miss  Grenfell 
of  his  plan.  "Perhaps,"  he  continues,  "you  may  be 
gratified  by  the  intelligence ;  but  oh,  my  dear  Lydia, 
I  must  faithfully  tell  you,  that  the  probability  of  my 
reaching  England  alive  is  but  small."  The  last  entry 
in  the  Journal  (October  6th),  begins  with  words  which 
sound  like  reminiscences  of  the  Psalmist,  who  remem- 
bered the  past,  and  meditated  on  the  works  of  God. 
"  I  sat  in  the  orchard,  and  thought  with  sweet  com- 
fort and  peace  of  my  God ;  in  solitude  my  company, 
my  friend,  and  comforter."  Ten  days  later,  16th 


344  1688-1900 

October  1812,  alone  among  strangers,  Henry  Martyn 
passed  to  his  rest. 

His  epitaph  was  written  by  Macaulay : 

"  Here  Martyn  lies.     In  Manhood's  early  bloom 
The  Christian  Hero  finds  a  Pagan  tomb. 
Religion,  sorrowing  o'er  her  favourite  son, 
Points  to  the  glorious  trophies  that  he  won, 
Eternal  trophies  !  not  with  carnage  red, 
Not  stained  with  tears  by  hapless  Captives  shed, 
But  trophies  of  the  Cross  !  for  that  dear  name, 
Through  every  form  of  danger,  death,  and  shame, 
Onward  he  journeyed  to  a  happier  shore, 
Where  danger,  death,  and  shame  assault  no  more." 

But,  in  missionary  enterprises,  there  has  never  been 
any  lack  of  true  spiritual  heroes  to  fill  the  gaps  caused 
by  death.  Man  after  man  has  come  forward,  obeying 
what,  in  his  simple  sincerity,  he  believes  to  be  a  call. 
In  doing  that  work,  their  own  characters  have  ripened 
in  beauty  and  nobility.  Many  have  been  inspired  by 
the  largest  views  of  their  country's  opportunities  and 
responsibilities;  but  every  genuine  missionary  has 
done  his  best,  without  self-seeking,  in  some  community, 
however  small,  and  from  each  a  handful  of  human 
beings,  at  the  least,  have  learned  the  highest  and 
purest  impulses  of  their  lives. 

High  in  the  roll  of  missionaries  stands  the  name  of 
Alexander  Duff,  the  eloquent  speaker,  the  educational 
statesman,  and  the  first  missionary  sent  out  to  India 
by  the  Presbyterian  Church  of  Scotland.  An  incident 
on  his  voyage  confirmed,  if  it  did  not  shape,  his  career. 
On  October  14th,  1829,  he  and  his  wife  sailed  from 
E-yde,  on  board  the  Lady  Holland.  Four  months  later, 
in  rough,  boisterous  weather,  the  ship  approached 
the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  and  made  for  Table  Bay. 
At  midnight,  February  13th,  1830,  she  ran  aground. 


ALEXANDER  DUFF  345 

Her  back  broke;  her  masts  were  cut  away;  waves 
dashed  over  the  wreck  :  the  position  seemed  desperate. 
It  was  not  even  known  whether  the  ship  had  struck 
on  a  reef,  the  mainland,  or  an  island.  All  around 
were  boiling  surf  and  foam.  With  great  difficulty,  one 
of  the  boats  was  launched,  manned,  and  despatched  to 
find  a  landing-piace.  Three  hours  passed.  Hope 
was  almost  gone,  when  the  boat  returned,  reporting  a 
small  sandy  bay.  At  this  haven,  which  proved  to  be 
on  Dessen  Island,  the  passengers  and  crew  were 
safely  landed,  but  all  that  they  possessed  was  lost. 

In  the  search  for  food  and  fuel,  a  sailor  found  two 
books  cast  by  the  waves  on  the  shore.  One  was  a 
Bible,  the  other  a  Scottish  Psalm  Book.  In  both, 
Duff's  name  was  written.  To  the  shipwrecked  party 
the  books  seemed  a  message  from  God.  Led  by  Duff, 
they  knelt  down  on  the  sand  while  he  read  them 
Psalm  cvii.,  "  Whoso  is  wise  will  ponder  these  things," 
etc.  On  Duff  himself  the  effect  was  lasting.  All  his 
library  was  lost.  With  it  had  gone  all  his  notes  and 
memoranda,  everything  that  reminded  him  of  his 
student  life.  Only  the  Bible  and  Psalms  were  pre- 
served. Henceforth,  as  he  read  the  message,  human 
learning  was  to  be  only  a  means  and  not  an  end.  In 
this  spirit  he  founded  his  College,  to  teach  in  the 
English  language  everything  ;that  was  educationally 
useful,  and  to  hallow  secular  teaching  with  the  study 
of  the  Christian  faith  and  doctrines.  Every  morning 
he  and  his  household  began  the  day  by  singing  to- 
gether one  of  the  Psalms  in  Rous's  version.  On  his 
journeys,  the  Psalms  were  ever  in  his  mind.  Travel- 
ling in  1849  from  Simla  to  Kotghur,  his  road  lay  by 
a  narrow  bridle-path,  cut  out  of  the  face  of  a  pre- 
cipitous ridge  of  rock.  As  he  rode,  he  watched  a 


346  1688-1900 

shepherd,  followed  by  his  sheep,  making  his  way  along 
the  mountain  side.  The  man  carried  a  long  rod,  at 
one  end  of  which  was  a  crook,  at  the  other  a  thick 
band  of  iron.  If  the  shepherd  saw  a  sheep  creeping 
too  far  up  the  mountain,  or  feeding  too  near  the  edge 
of  the  precipice,  he  went  back,  caught  one  of  the  hind 
legs  of  the  animal  in  his  crook,  and  gently  pulled  it 
back  to  the  flock.  The  other  end  was  used  to  beat  off 
the  dangerous  beasts  that  prowled  round  the  places 
where  the  sheep  lay.  "  This  brought  to  the  traveller's 
remembrance  the  expression  of  David,  the  shepherd, 
in  the  23rd  Psalm  (verse  4),  'Thy  rod  and  Thy 
staff  comfort  me' — the  staff  clearly  meaning  God's 
watchful  guiding  and  directing  providence,  and  the 
rod  His  omnipotence  in  defending  His  own  from  foes. 
It  is  no  tautology." 

Carey  and  Duff  passed  away  in  ripe  old  age,  having 
lived  to  see  some  of  the  fruits  of  their  labours.  Henry 
Martyn,  dying  alone  in  a  foreign  land,  had  completed 
two  of  the  great  tasks  on  which  he  had  set  his  mind. 
Very  different  was  the  fate  of  Allen  Gardiner  (1794- 
1851).  The  leader  of  a  forlorn  hope  of  missionary 
enterprise  among  the  Tierra  del  Fuegans,  he,  with 
his  six  companions,  was  starved  to  death,  never  waver- 
ing in  the  patient  courage  or  losing  the  sure  trust  in 
God  which  he  drew  from  the  book  of  Psalms. 

After  sixteen  years'  service  in  the  Eoyal  Navy, 
Commander  Gardiner  found  himself,  in  1826,  without 
employment.  He  was  free  to  devote  his  life  to 
missionary  work.  For  years  he  laboured,  without 
any  permanent  success,  among  the  Zulus  in  South 
Africa  and  the  Indians  in  South  America.  On 
September  7th,  1850,  he  sailed  with  six  companions 
for  Tierra  del  Fuego,  where  he  hoped  to  establish  a 


ALLEN  GARDINER  347 

mission.  In  December  the  party  was  landed  on  Picton 
Island,  furnished  with  provisions  for  six  months.  The 
natives  were  hostile  and  thievish ;  the  climate  was 
rigorous,  the  country  barren  and  wind  swept.  They 
had  only  a  flask  and  a  half  of  powder  between  them  ; 
the  rest  had  been  forgotten  :  their  nets  were  broken ; 
their  food  was  exhausted,  and  no  fresh  supplies 
reached  them  from  the  Falkland  Islands.  One  by 
one  the  party  sickened  and  died,  the  last  survivor 
being  Gardiner.  In  his  Diary  their  story  is  recorded. 
Six  months  had  passed.  In  the  midst  of  snow, 
and  ice,  and  storm,  the  little  party  prayed  for  the 
coming  of  the  expected  succour.  On  June  4th,  1851, 
Gardiner  writes :  "  Wait  on  the  Lord,  be  of  good 
courage,  and  He  shall  strengthen  thine  heart.  Wait 
I  say  on  the  Lord  "  (Ps.  xxvii.,  verse  14).  A  lucky 
shot,  fired  with  almost  their  last  grain  of  powder,  killed 
five  ducks.  It  is  in  the  words  of  the  Psalms,  that 
the  Diary  records  the  gratitude  of  the  hungry  men : 
"16th  June. — He  will  regard  the  prayer  of  the  desti- 
tute, and  not  despise  their  prayer"  (Ps.  cii.,  verse  17). 
"  They  that  seek  the  Lord  shall  not  want  any  good 
thing  "  (Ps.  xxxiv.,  verse  10).  Three  of  the  band  were 
in  a  dying  condition ;  and  Gardiner  himself  had 
realised  the  prospect  of  starvation.  Still  he  retained 
his  confident  trust :  "  Be  merciful  unto  me,  O  God,  be 
merciful  unto  me,  for  my  soul  trusteth  in  Thee  :  yea,  in 
the  shadow  of  Thy  wings,  will  I  make  my  refuge 
until  these  calamities  are  over  past "  (Ps.  Ivii.,  verse  1), 
is  his  entry  for  June  21st.  A  week  later  was  his 
birthday.  "  I  know,"  he  writes  in  his  Diary  for  June 
28th,  "that  it  is  written,  'They  who  seek  the  Lord 
shall  want  no  manner  of  thing  that  is  good '  (Ps.  xxxiv., 
verse  10).  And  again,  *  Cast  Thy  burden  upon  the 


348  1688-1900 

Lord,  and  He  shall  sustain  thee '  (Ps.  lv.,  verse  22). 
Whatever  the  Lord  may  in  His  providence  see  fit  to 
take  away,  it  is  that  which  He  Himself  has  bestowed. 
.  .  .  Still  I  pray  that,  if  it  be  consistent  with  Thy 
righteous  will,  O  my  heavenly  Father,  Thou  wouldest 
look  down  with  compassion  upon  me  and  upon  my 
companions,  who  are  straightened  for  lack  of  food, 
and  vouchsafe  to  provide  that  which  is  needful  .  .  . 
but,  if  otherwise,  Thy  will  be  done."  One  of  the 
party  had  now  died,  and  all  were  very  weak.  Still 
their  sufferings  were  endured  without  a  murmur.  On 
July  5th,  a  hand  was  painted  upon  a  rock  leading  to 
the  Pioneer  Cavern,  in  which  Gardiner  lived,  and, 
underneath  it,  "  Ps.  Ixii.,  5-8."  The  words  referred 
to  are  :  "  Nevertheless,  my  soul,  wait  thou  still  upon 
God ;  for  my  hope  is  in  Him.  He  truly  is  my  strength 
and  my  salvation ;  He  is  my  defence,  so  that  I  shall 
not  fall.  In  God  is  my  health  and  my  glory;  the 
rock  of  my  might,  and  in  God  is  my  trust.  O  put 
your  trust  in  Him  alway,  ye  people ;  pour  out  your 
hearts  before  Him,  for  God  is  our  hope."  At  the  end 
of  August,  two  more  of  the  band  had  died,  and  for 
the  rest  the  end  was  rapidly  approaching.  The  last 
entry  in  the  Diary  is  dated  September  5th  :  "  Great 
and  marvellous  are  the  loving  -  kindnesses  of  my 
gracious  God  unto  me.  He  has  preserved  me  hitherto, 
and  for  four  days,  although  without  bodily  food,  with- 
out any  feeling  of  hunger  or  thirst."  When  a  relief 
ship  arrived,  October  21st,  1851,  the  bodies  of  Gardiner 
and  three  of  his  companions  were  found  lying  unburied 
on  the  shore. 

The  death  of  Gardiner  seemed  to  be  an  useless 
sacrifice  in  a  hopeless  cause.  No  results  were  achieved 
by  him  in  Tierra  del  Fuego.  The  career  of  David 


DAVID  LIVINGSTONE  349 

Livingstone  (1813-73)  was  in  one  respect  a  striking 
contrast.  It  was  crowded  with  triumphs.  Nor  must 
his  successful  labour  in  the  cause  of  geographical 
science  allow  us  to  invert  the  order  of  the  objects  to 
which  his  life  was  devoted.  He  was,  before  all  else, 
a  Christian  missionary,  and,  as  part  of  the  Gospel 
message,  an  apostle  of  freedom  from  the  horrors  of 
slavery. 

Through  his  mother,  David  Livingstone  seems  to 
have  added  to  the  daring  of  his  Highland  ancestors 
the  tenacity  of  the  Lowland  Covenanter.  As  a  boy  of 
nine,  he  won  a  New  Testament  from  his  Sunday-school 
teacher  for  repeating  by  heart  Psalm  cxix.  A  year 
later  he  became  a  "piecer"  in  the  cotton  factory  of 
Blantyre,  and  grew  up,  inured  to  toil,  insatiable  for 
books,  a  keen  student  of  natural  history,  and  an 
occasional  poacher.  It  was  not  till  he  was  twenty 
that  his  mind  took  a  decidedly  religious  turn.  But, 
from  that  time  onward,  his  heart,  fired  by  the 
examples  of  Brainerd  and  of  Carey,  was  set  on  a 
missionary  life.  He  offered  his  services  to  the  London 
Missionary  Society,  was  accepted,  and  (November 
20th,  1840)  ordained.  A  fortnight  later,  he  started 
for  the  Cape. 

With  a  psalm  Livingstone  bade  farewell  to  his 
family  and  home.  "  I  remember  my  father  and  him," 
writes  his  sister,  "  talking  over  the  prospects  of  Chris- 
tian missions.  They  agreed  that  the  time  would  come 
when  rich  men  and  great  men  would  think  it  an  honour 
to  support  whole  stations  of  missionaries,  instead  of 
spending  their  money  on  hounds  and  horses.  On  the 
morning  of  17th  November  (1840),  we  got  up  at  five 
o'clock.  My  mother  made  coffee.  David  read  the 
121st  and  135th  Psalms,  and  prayed.  My  father  and 


350  1688-1900 

he  walked  to  Glasgow  to  catch  the  Liverpool  steamer." 
He  never  saw  his  father  again.  His  mother  had  told 
him  that  she  "  would  have  liked  one  of  her  laddies  to 
lay  her  head  in  the  grave."  "It  so  happened,"  writes 
David  Livingstone  in  1865,  "that  I  was  there  to  pay 
the  last  tribute  to  a  dear  good  mother." 

In  Africa,  for  thirty  years,  Livingstone  toiled  un- 
ceasingly to  explore  the  continent,  abolish  the  slave 
trade,  and  evangelise  the  native  races.  He  early 
learned  the  lesson  that  the  spiritual  cannot  be  abso- 
lutely divorced  from  the  secular.  Some  may  think  that 
the  explorer  predominated  over  the  missionary.  Yet, 
throughout  his  journeys,  he  maintained,  in  all  its 
strength  and  purity,  his  own  inner  life  of  fellowship 
with  God.  It  was  with  a  psalm  that  he  encouraged  him- 

v  self  to  face  the  unknown  future  which  each  day  might 
bring.  Menaced  with  death  by  savages,  sickened  by  the 
atrocities  of  the  slave  trade,  often  prostrated  by  fever 
or  gnawed  by  hunger,  tormented  by  poisonous  insects, 
sometimes  moving  in  such  bodily  pai:i  that  he  felt  as 
if  he  were  dying  on  his  feet,  he  found  his  daily  strength 
in  the  words,  "  Commit  thy  way  unto  the  Lord,  and 
put  thy  trust  in  Him ;  and  He  shall  bring  it  to  pass  " 
(Ps.  xxxvii.,  verse  5).  This  was  the  text  which  sus- 

}  tained  him,  as  he  says  himself,  at  every  turn  of  his 
"  course  in  life  in  this  country,  and  even  in  England." 
Livingstone's  last  expedition  started  from  Zanzi- 
bar in  1866.  He  disappeared  into  the  heart  of  Central 
Africa.  Only  vague  rumours  of  his  life  or  death 
reached  the  civilised  world.  In  October  1871,  he  had 
arrived  at  Ujiji  a  living  skeleton  ;  all  the  stores  which 
he  expected  had  disappeared ;  he  was  in  a  desperate 
plight ;  only  three  of  his  men  remained  faithful ;  the 
rest  had  deserted  him ;  starvation  stared  him  in  the 


JAMES  HANNINGTON  351 

;ace.  It  was  then  that  he  was  found  by  Stanley. 
A.t  Unyanyembe  Livingstone  halted,  while  Stanley 
returned  to  the  coast  to  send  him  men  and  stores. 
From  March  to  August  1872,  he  waited.  At  last  the 
men  came,  and  it  is  in  the  words  of  a  psalm  that  he 
records  his  joy.  The  entry  in  his  Diary  for  August 
9th,  1872,  is  as  follows: — "I  do  most  devoutly 
thank  the  Lord  for  His  goodness  in  bringing  my  men 
near  to  this.  Three  came  to-day,  and  how  thankful 
I  am  I  cannot  express.  It  is  well — the  men  who  were 
with  Mr  Stanley  came  again  to  me.  '  Bless  the  Lord, 
O  my  soul,  and  all  that  is  within  me  bless  His  holy 
name.  Amen.'  '  (Ps.  ciii.,  verse  1.) 

With  u  failing  strength,  but  never-failing  will,"  he 
pressed  on.  Weak,  bloodless,  and  suffering  excruciat- 
ing pain,  he  was,  in  fact,  a  dying  man.  On  the 
morning  of  May  1st,  1873,  he  was  found  dead,  on  his 
knees  in  the  hut  at  Itala.  "  Kneeling  at  the  bedside, 
with  his  head  buried  in  his  hands  upon  the  pillow, 
his  last  words  on  earth  were  spoken,  not  to  man  but 
to  God." 

In  the  train  of  Livingstone  followed  James 
Hannington,  the  first  Bishop  of  Equatorial  Africa. 
In  July  1885,  he  had  set  out  from  Frere  Town  to 
make  his  way  through  the  Masai  country  to  Lake 
Victoria  Nyanza.  Every  morning,  throughout  his 
toilsome,  dangerous  journey,  he  greeted  the  sunrise 
by  reading  or  repeating  his  "Travelling  Psalm,"  "I 
will  lift  up  mine  eyes  unto  the  hills,"  etc.  (Ps.  cxxi.). 
On  October  12th,  he  left  the  rest  of  his  party,  and,  a 
week  later,  reached  the  shores  of  the  lake.  He  was, 
in  fact,  marching  to  almost  certain  death.  King 
Mwanga,  fearing  annexation  of  his  dominions,  and 
believing  the  missionaries  to  be  the  agents  of  the 


352  1688-1900 

design,  had  begun  a  bitter  persecution  of  the  Chris- 
tians. At  a  village  on  the  shores  of  the  lake, 
Hannington  was  seized,  and  confined  in  a  miserable 
prison,  surrounded  by  noisy,  drunken  guards.  Con- 
sumed with  fever,  and  at  times  delirious  from  pain, 
devoured  by  vermin,  menaced  every  moment  by  the 
prospect  of  death,  he  found  strength  in  the  Psalms. 
On  Wednesday,  October  28th,  he  notes  in  his  Diary : 
"  I  am  quite  broken  down  and  brought  low.  Com- 
forted by  Psalm  xxvii.  Word  came  that  Mwanga 
had  sent  three  soldiers,  but  what  news  they  bring, 
they  will  not  yet  let  me  know.  Much  comforted  by 
Psalm  xxviii."  "  October  29th,  Thursday  (eighth  day 
in  prison). — I  can  hear  no  news,  but  was  held  up  by 
Psalm  xxx.,  which  came  with  great  power.  A  hyena 
howled  near  me  last  night,  smelling  a  sick  man,  but  I 
hope  it  is  not  to  have  me  yet."  This  is  his  last  entry. 
That  day,  at  the  age  of  thirty-seven,  he  was  killed. 

On  the  influence  of  the  Psalms  in  the  everyday 
lives  of  ordinary  men  and  women,  it  is  unnecessary 
to  dwell.  The  career  of  Colonel  Gardiner  (1688- 
1745)  proves,  that  even  the  chilling  atmosphere  of  the 
early  years  of  the  eighteenth  century  did  not  impair 
their  power  over  the  human  heart.  Except  for  his 
death  at  Prestonpans,  described  in  Waverley,  there  is 
little  to  distinguish  Gardiner  as  in  any  way  remarkable. 
"A  very  weak,  honest,  and  brave  man,"  is  the  testi- 
mony of  Alexander  Carlyle.  Philip  Doddridge  relates 
that,  in  July  1719,  James  Gardiner,  then  a  notorious 
rake,  was  "  converted  "  by  a  vision  which  appeared  to 
him  as  he  sat  in  his  room  at  Paris,  waiting  the  hour 
for  an  assignation  with  his  mistress,  and  idly  turning 
the  pages  of  The  Christian  Soldier  to  find  amusement. 
Alexander  Carlyle  tells  a  less  supernatural  story.  But, 


GARDINER  AT  PRESTONPANS  353 

whatever  were  the  true  circumstances,  it  is  not  dis- 
juted  that,  from  that  time  forward,  Gardiner's 
character  was  changed,  and  that  he  strove  to  reform, 
lot  only  his  own  life,  but  the  lives  of  those  about  him 
ind  under  his  command.  A  psalm  furnished  the  text 
Ps.  cxix.,  verse  158)  from  \vhich  Doddridge  preached 
-he  sermon  that  found  for  Lum  a  way  to  the  heart  of 
Gardiner.  In  his  biography  of  his  friend,  Doddridge 
>hows  how  deep  was  the  hold  which  the  Psalms 
Dossessed  on  the  colonel's  life.  That  he  might  at 
ill  times  command  their  comfort  and  encouragement, 
le  learnt  several  of  the  Psalms  by  heart,  and,  as  he 
•ode,  alone  and  in  unfrequented  places,  used  to  repeat 
liem  to  himself  or  sing  them  aloud.  Throughout  his 
etters  they  are  repeatedly  quoted.  In  1743  he  had 
•eturned  from  Flanders,  ill,  and  impressed  with  the 
)onviction  of  a  speedy  death.  His  intimate  friends, 
ind  those  immediately  about  him,  remembered  how 
lis  mind  dwelt  with  special  delight  on  the  words, 
'  My  soul,  wait  thou  still  upon  God  "  (Ps.  Ixii.,  verse 
>),  or  upon  Psalm  cxlv.,  and  the  version  of  it  by  Isaac 
vVatts.  The  outbreak  of  the  Kebellion  of  1745  found 
lim  sufficiently  recovered  to  command  his  regiment 
)f  horse  at  the  battle  of  Prestonpans,  fought  on  the 
?reat  open  field  into  which  the  arable  land  was 
hrown.  Mortally  wounded,  he  was  carried  past  the 
graveyard  of  Tranent  to  the  minister's  house,  where 
le  died.  Five  -  and  -  twenty  years  before,  he  had 
Ireamed  a  dream  in  which  the  place  was  depicted. 
'  He  imagined  that  he  saw  his  Blessed  Redeemer  on 
^arth,  and  that  he  was  following  Him  through  a  large 
j'ield,  following  Him  whom  his  Soul  loved,  but  much 
roubled  because  lie  thought  his  Blessed  Lord  did  not 
;peak  to  him  ;  till  he  came  up  to  the  Gate  of  Burying 


354  1688-1900 

Place,  when  turning  about  He  smiled  upon  him,  in 
such  a  Manner  as  filled  his  soul  with  the  most  ravish- 
ing Joy ;  and  on  After-Reflection  animated  his  Faith, 
in  believing  that  whatever  Storms  and  Darkness  he 
might  meet  with  in  the  Way,  at  the  Hour  of  Death  his 
glorious  Redeemer  would  lift  upon  him  the  Light  of 
His  Life-giving  Countenance  "  (Ps.  iv.,  verse  7). 

So  habitual  a  use  as  Colonel  Gardiner  made  of  the 
Psalms  is  uncommon.  It  belonged,  perhaps,  to  the 
religious  views  and  temperament  of  a  man,  who  was 
a  "  noted  enthusiast."  Yet  in  the  lives  of  most  men  and 
women,  there  are  moods  which  only  find  their  natural 
expression  in  the  familiar  language  of  the  Psalms. 
When  Thomas  Carlyle  sets  down  his  half-humorous, 
half-bitter  contempt  for  the  trivialities  of  society,  he 
quotes  the  same  verse  with  which  the  "judicious" 
Hooker  protested  against  his  wife's  shrewish  tongue 
(Psalm  cxx.,  ver£3  5).  Returning  in  1835  from  a 
London  dinner  party,  where  he  had  met  Sydney  Smith 
— "  a  mass  of  fat  and  muscularity  .  .  .  with  shrewd- 
ness and  fun,  not  humour  or  even  wit,  seemingly  with- 
out soul  altogether,"  he  closes  the  note  with  the  words 
— "The  rest  babble,  babble.  "Woe's  me  that  I  in 
Meshech  am  !  To  work."  Or  again,  in  a  higher  and 
wholly  serious  tone,  it  is  with  a  psalm  that  he 
encourages  his  brothers  to  struggle  on.  "Courage, 
my  brave  brothers,  all !  Let  us  be  found  faithful,  and 
we  shall  not  fail.  Surely  as  the  blue  dome  of  heaven 
encircles  us  all,  so  does  the  Providence  of  the  Lord  of 
heaven.  He  will  withhold  no  good  thing  from  those 
that  love  Him  (Ps.  Ixxxiv.,  verse  12).  This,  as  it  is 
the  ancient  Psalmist's  faith,  let  it  likewise  be  ours. 
It  is  the  Alpha  and  Omega,  I  reckon,  of  all  possessions 
that  can  belong  to  man."  Or,  yet  again,  in  one  of 


JANE  WELSH  CARLYLE  355 

:hose  moods  of  despondency,  which  at  times  sweep 
}ver  all  of  us,  it  is  in  the  language  of  a  psalm  that  Jane 
Welsh  Carlyle  utters  her  cry  for  help.  On  March 
24th,  1856,  she  had  resolved,  in  spite  of  weakness 
ind  ill-health,  neither  to  indulge  in  vain  retrospects  of 
±e  past,  nor  to  gaze  into  vague  distances  of  the  future, 
but  to  find  the  duty  nearest  to  hand,  and  do  it.  Two 
lays  later,  she  had  learnt  how  much  she  was  the 
3reature  of  external  conditions.  "  One  cold,  rasping, 
savage  March  day,"  aided  by  the  too  tender  sympathy 
Df  a  friend,  brought  back  all  her  troubles,  and  she 
writes  (March  26th,  1856) :  "  Have  mercy  upon  me,  O 
Lord,  for  I  am  weak ;  O  Lord,  heal  me,  for  my  bones 
ire  vexed.  My  soul  is  also  sore  vexed ;  but  Thou,  O 
Lord,  how  long  ?  Keturn,  O  Lord,  deliver  my  soul ; 
0  save  me  for  Thy  mercies'  sake."  (Ps.  vi.,  verses  2-4). 
Few  persons  of  mature  years  have  not,  at  some 
:ime  of  their  existence,  proved  the  adequacy  of  the 
anguage  of  the  Psalms — an  adequacy  belonging  to 
aothing  else  in  literature — to  express,  or  elevate,  or 
soothe,  or  solemnise  their  emotions.  For  that  side  of 
:he  subject,  the  everyday,  universal  experiences  of 
humanity  are  enough.  It  only  remains  to  illustrate 
:he  eternal  influence  of  the  Psalms  at  some  of  those 
Bxciting  moments  of  secular  life  when  modern  history 
aas  been  made. 

The  French  ft/evolution,  and  the  rise  and  fall  of  the 
Napoleonic  Dynasty,  may  be  taken  as  one  example, 
[n  Brittany  and  La  Vendee  was  concentrated  all  that 
•emained  of  Royalist  and  religious  enthusiasm.  There, 
it  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century,  worship  returned 
x>  the  simplicity  of  its  primitive  conditions.  There 
;rowds  of  armed  peasants,  fired  by  the  ardour  of  a 
ihildlike  faith,  knelt  at  the  feet  of  their  proscribed  and 


356  1688-1900 

hunted  priests,  who  stood,  under  the  sky  and  woods, 
by  the  bare  rocks  which  served  for  the  altars  of  God. 
There,  as  they  commemorated  friends  or  neighbours 
who  had  died  fighting  the  Blues,  or  as  the  solemn 
words  of  Psalm  cxxx.,  "  Out  of  the  deep  have  I  called 
unto  Thee,  O  Lord,"  etc.,  were  repeated  in  alternate 
verses  by  priest  and  congregation,  the  survivors 
renewed  ,  their  vows  to  fight  on  for  their  king  and 
their  faith.  Nor  was  the  struggle  so  hopeless  as  it 
seemed.  High  clay  banks,  topped  by  beeches,  oaks, 
and  chestnuts,  intersected  the  fields,  and  fenced  each 
side  of  the  narrow,  winding  roads.  Among  these 
natural  covers  undisciplined  peasants  met  regular 
troops  on  equal  terms. 

Elsewhere  in  France,  the  ^Republicans  had  gained 
an  easy  triumph.  During  the  Eeign  of  Terror, 
hundreds  of  men  and  women  died  on  the  scaffold, 
committing  their  spirits  into  the  hands  of  God,  in  the 
language  of  the  Psalms.  So  died  Madame  de  Noailles, 
on  July  22nd,  1794.  With  her  was  executed  her 
father-in-law,  the  Due  de  Noailles-Mouchy,  Marshal 
of  France,  who,  at  the  age  of  eighty,  mounted  the 
scaffold  for  his  God,  as,  at  sixteen,  he  had  mounted 
the  breach  for  his  king.  With  her  perished  also  the 
Marechale  de  Noailles-Mouchy,  who,  fifty-two  years 
before,  was  married  at  the  Palais  de  Luxembourg, 
which  had  been  her  birthplace,  and  was  afterward  to 
be  her  prison. 

The  touching  letters  of  Madame  de  Noailles 
addressed  to  M.  Grelet,  the  tutor  of  her  two  sons,  and 
the  guardian  of  her  infant  daughter,  reveal  the  beauty 
of  her  character  and  the  depth  and  purity  of  her  faith. 
"  Good-bye,  Alexis,  Alfred,  Euphemia,"  so,  in  one  of 
these  letters,  she  writes  from  her  prison,  "  Keep  God 


MADAME  DE  NOAILLES  357 

3ver  in  your  hearts  all  the  days  of  your  lives.  Bind 
^ourselves  to  Him  by  bonds  that  nothing  can  loosen. 
Pray  for  your  father,  and  labour  for  his  true  happi- 
less.  Kemember  your  mother,  and  never  forget  that 
ler  one  longing  for  all  of  you  was  that  she  might 
3ring  you  up  to  the  life  eternal."  With  quotations 
Tom  the  Psalms  begins  the  codicil  to  her  will,  which 
>he  drew  up  in  prison  to  dispose  of  her  personal 
effects  :  "  In  the  name  of  the  Father,  the  Son,  and  the 
Holy  Ghost.  Accept,  O  Lord,  the  sacrifice  of  my  life, 
[nto  Thy  hands  I  commend  my  spirit.  My  God, 
mste  Thee  to  help  me.  Forsake  me  not  when  my 
strength  faileth  me."  (Ps.  xxxi.,  verse  6;  Ixxi., 
/erses  10,  8.)  Her  prayer  was  heard.  Few  scenes 
ire  more  striking,  even  in  the  history  of  that  dramatic 
period,  than  that  which  is  described  in  the  Journal  of 
M.  Carrichon,  who  gave  the  prisoners  absolution  on 
:heir  way  to  the  scaffold.  Months  before,  he  had 
promised  that  he  would  do  ohem  this  last  service,  and 
irranged  the  disguise  of  a  dark-blue  coat  and  red 
ivaistcoat,  which  he  would  wear.  The  message  came 
;hat  the  ladies  were  condemned.  On  the  appointed 
lay,  he  followed  the  cart  in  which  the  prisoners,  their 
lands  bound  behind  them,  sat  on  a  rude  plank  with- 
Dut  a  back.  The  crowd  was  great.  He  hurried  along 
3y-streets  to  point  after  point  on  the  road  followed  by 
:he  procession.  But  all  his  efforts  to  make  his  pres- 
3nce  known  were  fruitless ;  he  watched  the  eager 
hopefulness  fade  into  despair.  At  last,  as  though  by 
i  miracle,  a  pitiless  storm  of  wind  and  rain  swept  bare 
:he  crowded  street,  and  left  him  almost  alone  and 
3lose  to  the  cart  in  which  sat  the  women.  All  his 
irresolution  vanished.  The  prisoners  bowed  their 
aeads  as  the  disguised  priest  raised  his  hand,  and, 


358  1688-1900 

with  his  head  covered,  pronounced  the  whole  formula 
of  absolution.  The  storm  ceased  ;  the  cart  passed  on  ; 
and  the  women  died  with  unflinching  courage. 

In  September  1812,  the  French  army  entered  Mos- 
cow. A  month  later  they  evacuated  the  smoking 
ruins  of  the  city,  and  began  that  retreat  which  proved 
the  turning-point  in  the  fortunes  of  Napoleon.  It  was 
believed  by  the  populace  that  powder  magazines, 
stored  beneath  the  cathedral  of  the  Kremlin,  would 
explode  whenever  the  gates  were  opened  which  separ- 
ated the  altar  from  the  body  of  the  building.  A  service 
was  held  to  celebrate  the  retreat  of  the  French.  In 
spite  of  the  prevalence  of  this  belief,  a  vast  throng, 
drawn  to  the  spot  by  awe  mingled  with  curiosity, 
packed  the  cathedral  from  end  to  end.  The  Metro- 
politan of  Moscow,  who  was  to  preach  the  sermon, 
approached  the  gates,  opened  them,  and  passed 
through  unharmed.  The  fears  of  the  Eussian  peasants 
were  dispelled,  even  as  the  forces  of  Napoleon  were 
dispersed,  and  in  that  supreme  moment  of  triumph 
the  Metropolitan  gave  out  his  text,  "  Let  God  arise, 
and  let  His  enemies  be  scattered  "  (Ps.  Ixviii.,  verse  1). 

The  power  of  the  first  Napoleon  was  shattered  by 
the  disaster  of  the  Kussian  campaign.  Yet  once  again 
the  imperial  dynasty  was  restored  on  the  ruins  of  the 
monarchy.  With  this  second  rise  and  fall  are  associ- 
ated two  psalms.  During  the  Revolution  of  1848, 
which  gave  Napoleon  III.  his  opportunity,  Psalm 
xlvi.  ("God  is  our  hope  and  strength")  was  sung  in 
the  streets,  not  only  of  Berlin,  but  of  Paris.  Twenty- 
two  years  afterwards,  the  German  armies  were  march- 
ing on  the  French  capital,  chanting  Luther's  version 
of  Psalm  xlvi.  Bourget,  a  little  village  in  the  Depart- 
ment of  the  Seine,  was,  on  three  successive  days  (28th 


CONOLLY  AT  BOKHARA  359 

to  30th  October  1870),  the  scene  of  desperate  struggles. 
When  the  conflict  was  ended,  there  was  found,  on  the 
bullet-pierced  altar  of  the  church,  a  Psalter.  It  was 
open  at  Psalm  Ivii.  :  "Be  merciful  unto  me,  O  God, 
be  merciful  unto  me,  for  my  soul  trusteth  in  Thee ; 
and  under  the  shadow  of  Thy  wings  shall  be  my 
refuge,  until  this  tyranny  be  overpast." 

For  Great  Britain,  it  is  in  India,  or  on  the  Indian 
frontiers,  that  the  romance  of  nineteenth  -  century 
history  is  mainly  concentrated. 

In  September  1840,  Captain  Arthur  Conolly  was 
sent  from  Cabul  to  Bokhara  to  negotiate  the  release 
of  Colonel  Stoddart.  He  reached  Bokhara  in  Decem- 
ber of  the  following  year,  and  Stoddart  was  at  once 
thrown  into  prison.  For  many  months  the  two 
prisoners  were  kept  in  a  filthy,  unwholesome  dungeon, 
swarming  with  vermin,  without  change  of  clothing. 
In  June  1842,  both  were  executed.  Several  years 
later,  a  little  book  was  purchased  by  a  Russian  in  one 
of  the  bazaars  at  Bokhara.  It  was  Conolly's  Prayer 
Book.  Along  its  margins,  and  on  its  blank  leaves, 
are  noted  the  chief  occurrences  of  his  long  imprison- 
ment. "Thank  God,"  he  writes  in  one  place,  "that 
this  book  was  left  to  me.  Stoddart  and  I  did  not 
fully  know  before  our  affliction  what  was  in  the 
Psalms,  or  how  beautiful  are  the  prayers  of  our 
Church." 

It  is  supposed  that  the  news  of  the  destruction 
of  the  Cabul  force  may  have  decided  the  Ameer  of 
Bokhara  to  execute  his  prisoners.  No  disaster  of 
such  magnitude  had  ever  before  befallen  the  British 
arms  in  the  East.  On  January  13th,  1842,  from  the 
walls  of  Jellalabad,  a  single  horseman  was  seen 
riding  towards  the  city.  It  was  Dr  Brydon,  the  sole 


360  1688-1900 

survivor  of  the  Cabul  force.  To  the  British  garrison  of 
Jellalabad,  the  news  meant  their  own  immediate  and 
imminent  peril.  They  knew  that  within  a  few  days 
the  storm  would  burst  upon  them ;  that,  insufficiently 
provided  with  ammunition,  and  scantily  supplied  with 
food,  fighting  behind  crumbling  walls  whose  circuit 
was  too  vast  to  be  properly  manned,  they  would  have 
to  hold  their  own  for  weeks  against  a  host  excited  by 
previous  victory.  Such  a  position  might  well  solem- 
nise the  feelings  of  the  most  careless.  On  the  next 
Sunday  the  whole  garrison  assembled  for  Divine 
service  in  one  of  the  squares  of  the  Bala  Hissar. 
There  was  no  chaplain,  but  the  Church  Service  was 
read  to  the  officers  and  men  by  a  grey-haired  captain, 
of  slight,  well-knit  figure,  whose  clear  strong  voice 
made  every  word  audible.  Instead  of  the  Psalms 
appointed  for  the  day,  he  chose  the  46th  Psalm,  "  God 
is  our  hope  and  strength,"  etc.,  which,  as  he  said, 
"  Luther  was  wont  to  use  in  seasons  of  peculiar  diffi- 
culty and  depression."  The  words,  well-suited  to  the 
desperate  circumstances  of  the  garrison,  expressed 
their  determination  to  defend  the  battlements  to  the 
last  extremity.  They  expressed,  also,  the  sublime 
dependence  upon  God  which  was  the  strength  of 
Henry  Havelock,  who  officiated  as  chaplain.  He 
was  then  an  unknown  man,  though  he  had  served 
with  distinction  in  Burma,  in  Afghanistan,  Gwalior, 
and  the  Sutlej.  Fifteen  years  later,  when  he  died  at  the 
Alumbagh,  after  the  relief  of  Lucknow,  his  name  was 
a  household  word.  His  deat  li  was  worthy  of  his  life. 
"  I  have  for  forty  years,"  he  said,  "  so  ruled  my  life,  that, 
when  death  came,  I  might  face  it  without  fear."  His 
headlong  march,  his  rapid  victories — when  the  fate  of 
British  rule  seemed  trembling  in  the  balance — had 


THE  INDIAN  MUTINY  361 

made  him  the  idol  of  the  nation.  He  had  shown  by 
his  career,  if  such  an  example  be  needed,  that  saints 
can  be  soldiers,  and  that  those  fear  men  least  who 
fear  God  most. 

When  Havelock  died  (November  24th,  1857),  the 
worst  of  the  Indian  Mutiny  was  over.  But  the  awful 
weeks  which  preceded  his  successes,  had  strained  to 
the  utmost  tension  the  confidence  which  men  and 
women  reposed  in  the  mysterious  workings  of  the 
Divine  purpose.  Yet  Dr  Duff,  writing  from  Calcutta 
in  May  1857,  relied  on  the  promises  of  the  Psalms. 
In  the  midst  of  panic,  open  mutiny,  and  secret  dis- 
affection, he  himself  felt  "a  confident  persuasion  that, 
though  this  crisis  has  been  permitted  to  humble  and 
warn  us,  our  work  in  India  has  not  yet  been  accom- 
plished ;  and  that  until  it  be  accomplished,  our  tenure 
of  Empire,  however  brittle,  is  secure."  .  .  .  "Never 
before,"  he  continues,  "did  I  realise  as  now  the  liter- 
ality  and  sweetness  of  the  Psalmist's  assurance — '  I 
laid  me  down  and  slept ;  I  awaked ;  for  the  Lord 
sustained  me.  I  will  not  be  afraid  of  ten  thousands 
of  people,  that  have  set  themselves  against  me  round 
about.  Arise,  O  Lord;  save  me,  O  my  God!'" 
(Ps.  iii.,  verses  5-7). 

Among  records  of  hairbreadth  escapes  during  the 
Indian  Mutiny,  few  are  more  striking  than  the  story 
of  Mr  William  Edwards,  the  magistrate  and  collector 
of  Budaon,  in  the  Rohilkund  district.  From  June 
1st,  1857,  to  August  27th,  when  he  joined  Havelockat 
Cawnpore,  he  was  a  fugitive.  With  him  were  a 
brother  collector,  Mr  Probyn,  Mrs  Probyn,  and  their 
four  children.  Weeks  of  mental  anguish  were  passed 
among  natives,  whose  loyalty  was  doubtful,  and  who 
were  under  the  strongest  temptation  to  treachery.  At 


362  1688-1900 

first  they  were  huddled  together  at  Kussowrah,  in  a 
cow-house,  from  which  they  were  forbidden  to  emerge, 
hearing  at  intervals  of  merciless  massacres  by  natives, 
and  tortured  by  anxiety  for  the  safety  of  relations  or 
friends.  From  Kussowrah  they  were  moved  to  a 
village  called  Kunjepoorah  ("the  place  of  affliction  "), 
a  collection  of  huts  gathered  on  a  bare  island  a 
hundred  yards  square,  which  rose  above  floods  that 
stretched  almost  as  far  as  the  eye  could  reach.  Here, 
during  the  day,  they  were  so  closely  packed  that  the 
only  possible  change  of  posture  was  sitting  up  or 
turning  from  one  side  to  the  other.  From  Futteghur 
they  heard  the  bands  of  the  mutineers  playing  English 
airs,  and  from  Furruckabad  came  the  sound  of  guns, 
which,  they  learned,  were  blowing  away  or  shooting 
down  women  and  children.  One  gleam  of  comfort 
came  to  Mr  Edwards,  but  even  that  was  darkened 
with  a  moment  of  despair.  His  wife  and  child  were 
at  Nynee  Tal,  ignorant  of  his  fate.  A  native 
promised,  if  possible,  to  convey  to  them  a  note. 
Mr  Edwards  had  only  a  tiny  scrap  of  paper,  half 
the  fly-leaf  of  Bridges  on  the  \\§th  Psalm.  On  this 
he  wrote  his  message  in  pencil,  dipped  it  in  milk 
to  make  the  writing  indelible,  and  set  it  out  to  dry. 
He  had  hardly  done  so,  when  a  crow  pounced  on  it 
and  carried  it  off.  But  fortunately  his  native  servant 
had  seen  what  had  happened,  followed  the  bird, 
and  recovered  the  note. 

On  July  26th,  they  were  able  to  return  to  the  cow- 
house at  Kussowrah.  Their  quarters  were  less 
cramped.  But  the  heat  was  terrible ;  tormented  by 
myriads  of  flies,  starting  at  every  unusual  noise,  they 
could  only  sleep  when  they  had  lighted  heaps  of  dried 
cow-dung,  which  poured  out  volumes  of  acrid  smoke 


IN  HIDING  FROM  THE  MUTINEERS          363 

and  kept  the  insects  at  bay.  One  of  the  Probyn 
children  died,  and  then  another.  The  Psalms,  how- 
ever, proved  to  them  a  storehouse  of  comfort.  "  There 
is  not  a  day,"  writes  Mr  Edwards  in  his  Diary  for 
August  5th,  "  on  which  we  do  not  find  something  that 
appears  as  if  written  especially  for  persons  in  our 
unhappy  circumstances,  to  meet  the  feelings  and  wants 
of  the  day.  This  morning,  for  instance,  I  derived 
unspeakable  comfort  from  the  13th  and  16th  verses  of 
the  25th  Psalm  ("The  secret  of  the  Lord  is  among 
them  that  fear  Him ;  and  He  will  show  them  His 
covenant,"  and  "  The  sorrows  of  my  heart  are  enlarged  : 
O  bring  Thou  me  out  of  my  troubles  ") ;  and  in  the 
evening,  from  the  14th,  15th,  and  16th  verses  of  the 
27th  (verse  16,  "O  tarry  Thou  the  Lord's  leisure; 
be  strong,  and  He  shall  comfort  thine  heart ;  and  put 
thou  thy  trust  in  the  Lord  "). 

After  a  sleepless  night,  devoured  by  mosquitoes, 
depressed  in  mind  and  body,  he  writes,  August  16th : 
"It  is  at  such  times  I  feel  the  real  blessing  the 
Psalms  are.  They  never  fail  to  give  peace  and  refresh- 
ment, when  all  is  dark  and  gloomy  within  and  without. 
The  circumstances  under  which  many  of  them  were 
written,  seasons  of  danger  and  almost  despair — David 
fleeing  and  hiding  from  bloodthirsty  enemies,  as  we 
are — render  them  peculiarly  suitable  to  our  case.  This 
morning  I  felt  the  5th  verse  of  the  68th  Psalm  most 
soothing,  in  the  assurance  it  gives  me  that,  if  I  am  cut 
off,  my  God  will  be  with  my  widow  and  fatherless 
children."  ("He  is  a  Father  of  the  fatherless,  and 
defendeth  the  cause  of  the  widows,  even  God  in  His 
holy  habitation.")  Or  again,  on  August  24th  he  notes, 
"  Finished  to-day,  for  the  second  time,  that  excellent 
work,  Bridges  on  the  l\$th  Psalm ;  the  sole  book  in  my 


364  1688-1900 

hands,  except  the  Bible,  for  the  past  two  months ;  and 
fortunate  have  I  been  to  have  had  these  sources  of 
consolation."  They  were  now  in  communication  with 
Havelock ;  but  the  difficulty  of  traversing  a  country 
infested  with  mutineers  was  great.  "Nothing  new 
settled,"  writes  Edwards  on  August  27th,  "  about  cm- 
plans,  and  we  are  much  harassed.  Heavy  guns  firing 
at  Furnickabad  to-day,  we  know  not  from  what  cause  ; 
but  they  reminded  us  painfully  of  our  fearful  proximity 
to  that  place  where  are  so  many  thirsting  for  our 
lives.  Amidst  it  all,  to-day's  Psalms  are  most  consol- 
ing, and  wonderfully  suited  to  our  case,  especially  the 
121st."  ("I  will  lift  up  mine  eyes  unto  the  hills, 
from  whence  cometh  my  help.") 

Three  days  later,  the  party  started  to  run  the 
gauntlet  for  150  miles  of  river  way,  through  the  midst 
of  the  enemy's  country.  The  journey  was  successfully 
made.  After  three  months  of  hourly  suspense  and 
danger,  they  were  safe  with  the  British  troops. 

From  the  Psalms  the  quiet  confidence  of  Dr  Duff 
drew  its  serenity ;  from  them  also  the  endurance  of 
Mr  Edwards  derived  its  patient  fortitude.  The  relief 
of  Lucknow  showed  that  the  active  daring,  which  not 
only  braves  death  but  courts  it,  may  be  equally  stirred 
by  the  Psalms.  "Quaker"  Wallace  of  the  93rd  regi- 
ment, went  into  the  Secundrabagh,  says  an  eye-witness, 
"  like  one  of  the  Furies,  if  there  are  any  male  Furies, 
plainly  seeking  death,  but  not  meeting  it,"  and  quoting 
the  116th  Psalm,  Scottish  version  in  metre,  beginning 
at  the  first  verse  : 

"  I  love  the  Lord,  because  my  voice 

And  prayers  He  did  hear. 
1,  while  I  live,  will  call  on  Him, 
Who  bowed  to  me  His  ear." 


THE  BOER  WAR  365 

And  thus  he  plunged  into  the  Secundrabagh,  quoting 
a  line  at  every  shot  fired  from  his  rifle,  and  at  each 
thrust  given  by  his  bayonet : 

"I'll  of  salvation  take  the  cup, 
On  God's  name  will  I  call ; 
I'll  pay  my  vows  now  to  the  Lord 
Before  His  people  all." 

The  Indian  Mutiny  does  not  afford  the  latest 
example  of  the  influence  of  the  Psalms  on  our  secular 
history.  Even  in  the  present  century,  they  have  shown 
their  power  on  the  battlefields  of  nations.  It  would 
not  be  wholly  fanciful  to  compare  the  struggle  carried 
on  by  the  Scottish  Covenanters  against  seventeenth- 
century  England,  with  the  challenge  thrown  down  by 
the  Boers  to  the  British  Empire  of  the  twentieth 
century.  In  their  pastoral  habits,  their  civilisation, 
their  education,  their  deep,  yet  narrow  religion,  their 
sturdy  independence,  Boers  and  Covenanters  stand 
close  together.  To  us,  who  regard  the  conflicts  from 
the  vantage-ground  of  the  past,  it  may  seem  that  the 
triumph  of  the  large  battalions  was  from  the  first 
inevitable.  Yet  in  both  cases  geographical  conditions 
favoured  the  smaller  force,  and  foreign  aid,  or  civil 
discord,  was  not  unreasonably  anticipated.  Both 
Boer  and  Covenanter  arrogated  to  himself  the  promises 
of  the  Psalms.  To  the  dwellers  on  the  solitary  veldts 
of  South  Africa,  the  words  appealed  with  the  same 
peculiar  force  which  they  had  possessed  for  the  inhabi- 
tants of  the  lonely  recesses  of  the  Lowland  hills,  and 
both  Covenanter  and  Boer  fought  in  the  conviction 
that  the  Lord  of  Hosts  was  on  his  side. 

In  President  Kruger's  frequent  appeals  to  the 
Psalms,  it  is  unnecessary  to  discover  hypocrisy. 
Treachery,  guile,  cruelty,  even  if  such  faults  could 


366  1688-1900 

fairly  be  laid  to  his  charge,  are  not  inconsistent 
with  religious  sincerity,  when  minds  of  a  peculiar 
type  and  training  are  imbued  with  the  spirit  of  the 
Old  Testament,  or  convinced  that  they  are  fighting 
the  Lord's  battle  against  His  enemies.  It  is  as  a 
Cromwellian  captain,  or  as  a  Scottish  Covenanter, 
that  he  addresses  his  burghers  in  language  which 
goes  directly  to  their  hearts.  His  speech  to  the 
Volksraads  on  October  2nd,  1899,  couched  in  the 
language  of  the  Psalms,  interpreted  their  promises  in 
favour  of  the  Boers.  "Bead,"  he  said,  "that  psalm 
attentively  (Ps.  cviii.,  '  O  God,  my  heart  is  ready/  etc.), 
and  associate  your  prayers  with  that :  then  will  the 
Lord  guide  us ;  and,  when  He  is  with  us,  who  shall 
be  against  us  ? "  Similar  was  his  speech  on  May  7th, 
1900,  in  opening  the  Volksraads.  There  he  applied 
the  words  of  Psalm  Ixxxiii.  ("  Hold  not  Thy  tongue, 
O  God,"  etc.)  to  the  struggle  with  the  British  Empire, 
and  dwelt  especially  on  verse  4,  where  the  enemies 
of  God  say,  "Come,  and  let  us  root  them  out,  that 
they  be  no  more  a  people ;  and  that  the  name  of 
Israel  may  be  no  more  in  remembrance."  "Psalm 
Ixxxiii.,"  argued  the  President,  "speaks  of  the  attacks 
of  the  Evil  One  on  Christ's  Kingdom,  which  must  no 
longer  exist.  And  now  the  same  words  come  from 
Salisbury,  for  he  too  says,  '  This  people  must  not  exist/ 
and  God  says,  'This  people  shall  exist/  Who  will 
win  ?  Surely,  the  Lord."  So  again,  in  his  circular 
despatch  to  his  officers,  dated  from  Machadodorp, 
June  20th,  1900,  he  returned  to  the  same  passage. 
"According  to  Psalm  Ixxxiii.,  the  enemies  of  old 
said  that  the  people  shall  not  exist  in  Christ's 
Kingdom.  Salisbury  and  Chamberlain  stand  con- 
victed by  their  own  words :  '  They  shall  not  exist ' ; 


PRESIDENT  KRUGER  367 

but  the  Lord  says,  'This  people  shall  exist/  and 
Christ  is  our  Commander-in-Chief,  Who  leads  us 
with  His  Word."  Or,  lastly,  it  is  again  to  the 
Psalms  that  he  made  his  appeal  a  month  later,  in 
a  final  despatch  to  his  officers  from  Machadodorp : 
"  See,"  he  wrote,  "  the  promise  of  the  Lord  in  Psalm 
cviii.,  where  He  says,  they  who  fight  through  God 
shall  do  so  valiantly,  and  the  Lord  will  deliver  them, 
and  tread  down  their  enemies.  Keep  courage,  there- 
fore, you  God-fearing  band ;  the  Lord  will  display  His 
strength  to  your  weakness.  .  .  .  Each  of  ye  knows  as 
I  do,  how  unjust  and  godless  the  war  is,  as  we  were 
willing  to  yield  almost  everything,  if  we  could  only 
keep  our  liberty  and  our  independence.  See  Psalm 
Ixxxiii.,  how  the  evil  spirit  of  the  air  said  that  the 
valiant  fighter  named  Israel  must  not  exist,  and  the 
Lord  says,  '  He  shall  exist.'  .  .  .  Then  the  same  spirit 
answered  that  this  nation  must  not  exist,  or,  to  use 
his  own  words,  'I  will  not  permit  your  nation  to 
continue  to  be  a  nation/  Dear  brothers,  through 
God's  Word  I  am  sure  of  this,  that  the  victory  is 


ours." 


A  German  mystic  has  said,  "He  whom  God 
deludes  is  well  deluded."  In  its  entirety,  the  saying 
is  a  hard  one;  yet  it  contains  a  truth.  Only  the 
immediate  issues  in  the  Boer  War  have  been  at 
present  decided.  The  ultimate  effects  on  the  civilised 
progress  of  the  world  and  the  general  interests  of  man- 
kind belong  to  the  region  of  the  future  and  of  hope. 
But  as  it  has  been  with  the  Covenanters,  so  it  may 
be  with  the  Boers.  Virtues  which  lent  dignity  and 
pathos  to  the  struggle  for  independence  may  gain 
a  broader  sphere  of  exercise  than  the  narrow  field 
on  which  they  were  previously  concentrated.  The 


368  1688-1900 

record  of  the  Cameronian  Regiment,  raised  among 
the  defeated  Covenanters,  and  first  commanded  by  one 
of  the  leaders  at  Drumclog,  may  be  reproduced  on  a 
larger  scale  in  the  future  history  of  the  Boer  people. 

When  the  pages  of  some  ancient  brown-bound 
volume  are  turned,  there  flutters  from  between  the 
leaves  the  withered  petal  of  a  rose.  The  flower  is 
faded,  dry,  scentless ;  but  it  has  imprinted  something 
of  its  shape  and  colour  on  the  pages  between  which  it 
has  been  pressed.  As  it  floats  to  the  ground,  the 
most  unimaginative  of  us  is  conscious  of  the  desire 
to  read  its  secret.  What  moment  of  joy  or  sorrow, 
of  despair  or  hope,  did  it  commemorate  in  the  distant 
days,  when  the  page  was  yet  unstained,  the  petal  full 
of  fragrance  and  colour,  the  hand  that  placed  it  there 
still  throbbing  with  life  ? 

Something  similar  is  the  effect  of  studying  the 
Psalms  through  human  history.  There  is  scarcely  a 
leaf  in  the  Psalter  which  is  not  stained  by  some 
withered  flower  of  the  past.  To  gather  some  of  these 
petals  and  read  their  meaning,  as  they  fall  thick  from 
the  pages,  has  been  the  purpose  of  this  book.  Vain 
must  be  the  effort  to  recall  to  life  persons  or  events 
divided  from  us  by  centuries  of  change.  But  as  we 
read  the  familiar  verses,  the  words  bring  before  us,  one 
by  one,  the  hundreds  of  men  and  women,  who,  passing 
from  tribulation  into  joy,  have,  in  the  language  of  the 
Psalms,  conquered  the  terrors  of  death,  proclaimed 
their  faith,  or  risen  to  new  effort  and  final  victory. 


APPENDICES 


2A 


APPENDIX   A 

PRINCIPAL   AUTHORITIES 
CHAPTER  I  (pages  1-10). 

ARCHBISHOP  ALEXANDER — The  Witness  of  the  Psalms  to  Christ  and 
Christianity.     1877.     (Bampton  Lectures  for  1876  ) 

C.  L.  MARSON— The  Psalms  at  Work.     2nd  ed.     1895. 

JOHN  KER — The  Psalms  in  History  and  Biography.     1886. 

[See  also  my  Article  on  "  The  Psalms  in  History "  in  the 
Quarterly  Review  for  April  1897,  vol.  clxxxvc,  p.  305.] 

JOHN  SMEATON — A  Narrative  of  the  Building  and  a  Description  of  the 
Construction  of  the  Edy stone  Lighthouse  with  stone,  etc.     1791. 

Official  Description  and  Illustrated  Catalogue  of  the  Great  Exhibition 
of  1851. 

MRS  ALFRED  GATTY — The  Book  of  Sundials.  Enlarged  and  re-edited 
by  Horatia  K.  F.  Eden  and  Eleanor  Lloyd.  4th  ed.  1900. 

CHARLES  LEADBETTER — Mechanick  Dialling;  or,  The  New  Art  of 
Shadows,  etc.  1737. 

HERBERT  A.  GRUEBER — Handbook  of  the  Coins  of  Great  Britain  and 
Ireland.  (Appendix  B.)  1899. 

LEOPOLD  G.  WICKHAM  LEGG — English  Coronation  Records.     1901. 

SIR  PHILIP  SIDNEY — The  Psalmes  of  David,  etc.  .  .  .  Begun  by  the 
noble  and  learned  gent.  Sir  Philip  Sidney,  Kt.,  and  finished  by 
the  Right  Honourable  the  Countess  of  Pembroke,  his  sister.  Now 
Jirst  printed  from  a  copy  of  the  original  manuscript  transcribed  by 
John  Dames,  of  Hereford,  in  the  reign  of  James  the  First.  1823. 

FRANCIS  BACON — Certaine  Psalmes  in  Verse.     1625. 

GEORGE  SANDYS — A  Paraphrase  upon  the  First  Booke  of  the  Psalmes  of 
Damd.  1636. 

HENRY  HOWARD,  EARL  or  SURREY — Poems.     1547. 
'•71 


372  APPENDICES 

SIR  THOMAS  WYATT — The  Seven  Penitential  Psalmes  drawen  into 
English  Meter.  1549.  Poems.  (Aldine  edition.) 

SIR  THOMAS  SMITH — Certaigne  Psalmes  or  Songues  of  David.     1549. 

(MS.  Brit.  Mus.) 
SIR  HENRY  WOTTON — Psalm  civ.  in  Reliquiae  Wottonias. 

JOHN    HOOKHAM  FRERE — Selection   of  Psalms.     (Works,   ed.    1872, 

vol.  ii.) 
ARCHBISHOP  MATTHEW  PARKER — The  whole  Psalter,  etc.,  N.D.   [1560.] 

BISHOP  JOSEPH  HALL — Some  few  of  David's  Psalmes  metaphrased  in 
Metre.  1607.  (Works,  vol.  ix.  Ed.  Philip  Wynter.  1863.) 

BISHOP  HENRY  KING — The  Psalms  of  David  from  the  New  Translation 
of  the  Bible,  turned  into  Meeter.  1651. 

BISHOP  SAMUEL  WOODFORD — A  Paraphrase  in  English  Verse,  upon  the 
Books  of  the  Psalms.  1667. 

QUEEN  ELIZABETH — Psalm  xiv.  (See  A  Godly  Meditation  of  the 
Christian  Soul.  1548.) 

KING  JAMES  I. — The  Psalmes  of  King  David.     1631. 

FRANCIS  Rous — The  Psalmes  of  David  in  English  Meeter.     1641. 

THOMAS,  LORD  FAIRFAX — (unpublished).  See  Preface  to  Henry 
Cotton's  Editions  of  the  Bible  and  parts  thereof  in  English.  2nd 
ed.  1852. 

GEORGE  WITHER — The  Psalms  translated  into  Lyric  Verse,  according  to 
the  Scope  of  the  Original.  1632. 

PHINEHAS  FLETCHER — Six  Psalms  were  published  in  Miscellanies, 
appended  to  his  Purple  Island.  1633. 

[See  Poetical  Works.     Ed.  A.  B.  Grosart.     4  vols.     1869.] 

RICHARD  CRASHAW.     Steps  to  the  Temple.     1646. 

HENRY  VAUGHAN — Silex  Scintillans.     (Psalm  cxxxi.)     1650. 

ROBERT  BURNS — Psalinsi.,  xiv.  in  Poetical  Works.     Ed.  1787. 

[See  Robert  Chambers's  Life  and   Works  of  Burns,  vol.  i., 
1856.] 

WILLIAM  COWPER — Psalm  cxxxvii.  in  Poems. 

JOHN  MILTON  —  Psalms  cxiv.,  cxxxvi.  (1623).  Ixxx-.lxxxviii. 
(1648).  i.-viii.  (1653). 

[See  Poems  in  English  and  Latin.     2nd  ed.     1673.] 

GEORGE  HERBERT — 1632.  Seven  versions  first  printed  in  Fuller  t 
Worthies  Library.  Ed.  A.  B.  Grosart.  1874. 


APPENDIX  A  373 

JOHN  KEBLE — The  Psalter,  or  Psalms  of  David  in  English  Verse,  by  a 
member  of  the  University  of  Oxford.  1839. 

SIR  RICHARD  BLACKMORE — Version  of  the  Book  of  Psalms.     1721. 
LUKE  MILBOURNB — The  Psalms  of  David  in  English  Metre.     1698. 

JOSEPH  ADDISON — Psalm  xxiii.  Spectator,  No.  441.  Psalm  xix. 
Spectator,  No.  465. 

CHARLES  WESLEY — The  Poetical  Works  of  John  and  Charles  Wesley, 
etc.  Collected  and  arranged  by  George  Osborn.  13  vols. 
1868-72. 

ISAAC  WATTS — The  Psalms  of  David  Imitated  in  the  Language  of  the 
New  Testament,  And  apply  d  to  the  Christian  State  and  Worship^ 
by  I.  Watts.  1719. 

ROUSSEAU — Les  Confessions  de  J.  J.  Rousseau.     1781,  1788. 
GOETHE — Aus  Meinem  Leben — Dichtung  und  Wahrheit.     1811. 

ST  AUGUSTINE — Confessions.  Trans,  and  ed.  Charles  Bigg,  D.D., 
1898. 

De  Imitatione  Christi.  Ed.  John  Kells  Ingram.  (Early  English 
Text  Society;  Extra  Series,  No.  Ixiii.  1893.) 

JOHN  BUNYAN — Grace  abounding  to  the  Chief  of  Sinners;  in  a 
Faithful  Account  of  the  Life  and  Death  of  John  Bunyan,  etc. 
1666. 

BISHOP  LANCELOT  ANDREWES — Rev.  Patris  Lane.  Andrews  Episc. 
Winton.  Preces  Privatce  Greece  et  Latine.  (Oxonii  e  Theatro 
Sheldoniano,  MDCLXXV).  Ed.  Peter  Goldsmith  Medd.  1892. 
Trans,  by  John  Henry  Newman;  "Tracts  for  the  Times," 
No.  88. 

[See  also  Lancelot  Andrewes,  by  Robert  Lawrence  Ottley. 
Appendix  D.     1894.] 

BLAISE  PASCAL — Pensees  de  M.  Pascal  sur  la  Religion  et  sur  quelqucs 
autres  sujets,  qui  ont  este  trouvees  apres  sa  mort  parmy  ses  papiers. 
1669. 

CHAPTER  II  (pages  11-39). 

GIBBON — Decline  and  Fall  of  the  Roman  Empire.  Ed.  J.  B.  Bury. 
7  vols.  1896-1900. 

CANON  BRIGHT—^  History  of  the  Church,  A.D.  313-451.  2nd  ed. 
1869. 

The  Age  of  the  Fathers.     2  vols.     J903. 


374  APPENDICES 

WILLIAM  PALMER — Dissertations  on  Subjects  relating  to  the  Orthodox 
Communion.  Dissertation  xx.  1853. 

ALBAN  BUTLER — Lives  of  the  Saints.     12  vols.     1756,  etc. 

S.    BARING-GOULD — Lives  of  the  Saints.     New   Edition.     16   vols. 

1897-98. 
LAURENTIUS  SURIUS — Historic?  seu  Vitce  Sanctorum.     6  vols.     1581. 

SMITH    AND    WACE — Dictionary    of    Christian   Biography.      4    vols. 

1877-87. 

AMBROSE — In  Psalmum  I  Enarratio.     (Migne,  xiv.  925.) 
Hexaemeron.     (Ibid.,  223.) 

AMEDEE  S.  D.  THIERRY — Saint  Jerome.     2  tomes.     1867. 

CARL  ULLMANN — Life  of  Gregory  of  Nazianzum.  Trans.  George 
Valentine  Cox.  1851. 

ST  AUGUSTINE — Confessions.     Trans,  and  ed.  Charles  Bigg,  D.D., 

1898. 

L'ABBE  BAUNARD — Vie  de  Saint  Ambroise.     1871. 

J.  H.  NEWMAN — Historical  Sketches.     3  vols.     1872-3. 

ATHANASIUS — Apologia  de  Fugd  Sud. 

DEAN  STANLEY — Lectures  on  the  History  of  the  Eastern  Church.     1861. 

The  Letter  of  Paula  and  Eustochium  to  Marcella  about  the  Holy 
Places.  Trans.  Aubrey  Stewart.  1889.  (Palestine  Pilgrims' 
Text  Society,  vol.  i.) 

C.  F.  R.  DE  MONTALEMBERT — Moines  de  V  Occident.  Ed.  1860-77. 
(References  throughout  to  English  edition,  with  introduction 
by  Gasquet.  6  vols.  1896.) 

[See  also  my  Article,  "Rabelais  at  home,"  in  Blackwood's 
Magazine  for  April  1894,  vol.  civ.,  p.  504.] 

J.  V.  A.  DE  BROGLIE — L'jfiglise  et  V Empire  Romain  au  IV*  Siecle. 
6  tomes.  1856-66. 

JOSEPH  M'CABE — Saint  Augustine  and  his  Age.     1902. 
AUGUSTUS  J.  C.  HARE — Studies  in  Russia.     1885. 


CHAPTER  III  (pages  40-67). 

PROCOPIUS — De  Bello  Vandalico  ;  De  Bello  Golthico. 

Flodoardi  historia  Remensis  Ecclesice.     Ed.  John  Heller  et  G.  Waits, 
(Pertz  M.  G.  H,  xiii.     405.) 


APPENDIX  A  375 

JOHN  PINKERTON — Vitce  antiques  Sanctorum  Scotice.  Ed.  Metcalfe. 
2  vols.  Paisley.  1889. 

J.  H.  NEWMAN — The  Lives  of  the  English  Saints,  written  by  various 
hands  at  the  suggestion  of  John  Henry  Nevrman,  afterwards 
Cardinal.  6  vols.  1900-1. 

JOHN  LINGARD — The  History  and  Antiquities  of  the  Angle-Saxon 
Church.  3rd  ed.  2  vols.  1845. 

JOHN  O'HANLON— Lives  of  the  Irish  Saints.     1875,  etc. 

MARGARET  STOKES — Six  months  in  the  Apennines ;  or,  A  Pilgrimage  in 
search  of  vestiges  of  the  Irish  saints  in  Italy.  1892. 

Three  months  in  the  forests  of  France  ;  A  pilgrimage 
in  search  of  vestiges  of  the  Irish  saints  in  France. 
1895. 

GEORGE  THOMAS  STOKES — Ireland  and  the  Celtic  Church  :  a  history  of 
Ireland  from  St  Patrick  to  the  English  conquest  in  1172.  3rd  ed. 
1892. 

THOM/S  HODGKIN— Italy  and  her  Invaders.     8  vols.     1880-1899. 

A.  H.  HOFFMANN  VON  FALLERSLEBEN — Fundgruben  fur  Geschichte 
deutscher  Sprache  und  Literatur.  2  Bde.  1830-37. 

D.  H.  STOEVER — Life  of  Sir  C.  Linnceus.  Trans.  Joseph  Trapp. 
1794. 

C.  J.  HEFELE— History  of  the  Church  Councils.  Trans.  W.  R.  Clark. 
Vol.  iv.  1871,  etc. 

STEPHEN  BALUZE — Capitularia  Regum  Francorum.     Tome    1.     1677. 
Vita  Columbani,  auctore  Jona  Monacho.     (Migne,  Ixxxvii.  1014.) 

Tripartite  Life  of  St  Patrick.  Ed.  Whitley  Stokes.  (Rolls 
Series,  89.) 

ADAMNAN — Vita  S.  Columbce.  Ed.  William  Reeves.  1857.  (See  also 
trans,  and  ed.  Joseph  Thomas  Fowler,  D.C.L.  1895.) 

BEDE—  Vita  S.  Cuthberti. 

S.    Gregorii  Magni    Vita,   auctore  Joanne   diacono.      (Migne,  Ixxv., 

230.) 
Vita    Hugonis   Cluniensis,    auctore  Hildeberto    Cenomanensi   Episcopo. 

(Migne,  clix.,  867.) 

EDUARD  WOELFFLIN — Benedicti  Regula  Monachorum.     1895. 
Abrege  de  la  Vie  de  S.  Francois  de  Borgia.     1671. 


376  APPENDICES 

DOM    VINCENT   SCULLY— Life   of  the  Venerable   Thomas  a   Kempi*. 

1901. 
Vila  S.   Dunstani,   auctore  Adelardo.     Ed.    Stubbs.     (Rolls   Series, 

63.) 

CHAPTER  IV  (pages  68-112). 
H.  MARTIN — Histoire  de  France.     4th  ed. 
L.  SERGEANT — The  Franks.     (Stories  of  the  Nations.)     1898. 
F.  R.  GUETTEE— Histoire  de  I'Eglise  de  France.     1856. 
SIR  JAMES  STEPHEN — Essays  in  Ecclesiastical  Biography.     Ed.  1891. 

M.    BOUQUET — Recueil    des   historiens   des    Gaules   et    de   la   France. 

"Pepin  et  Charlemagne."     Tome  V.     Nouvelle  ed.     1869. 
JAMES  BRYCE — The  Holy  Roman  Empire.    New  ed.    Revised.    1866. 
J.  W.  BOWDEN— Life  of  Gregory  VII.     2  vols.     1840. 
R.  W.  CHURCH — Anselm.     Ed.  1888. 
C.  DE  REMUSAT — S.  Anselme  de  Cantorbery.     2m*  ed. 

DEAN  STANLEY — Memorials  of  Canterbury.     Ed.  1868. 

Lectures  on  the  History  of  the  Eastern  Church.     1861. 
E.  G.  GARDNER—  The  Story  of  Siena.     1902. 

H.  F.  REUTER — Geschichte  Alexanders  des  drittent  und  die  Kirche  seiner 

Zeit.     1860-4. 
The  Pilgrimage  of  S.  Silvia  oj  Aquitania  to  the  Holy  Places.     Trans. 

John   H.    Bernard,  1891   (Palestine    Pilgrims'   Text   Society, 

vol.  i.) 
Of  The  Holy  Places  visited  by  Antoninus  Martyr.     Trans.   Aubrey 

Stewart,  1887  (Palestine  Pilgrims'  Text  Society,  vol.  ii.) 
Theodosius  on   the    Topography  of  the   Holy  Land.     Trans.    J.    H. 

Bernard,  1893  (Palestine  Pilgrims'  Text  Society,  vol.  ii.) 

S.  Silvias  Aquitance  Peregrinatio  ad  loca  Sancta  quae  inedita  ex  codice 
Aretino  deprompsit  Joh.  Franc.  Gamurrini.  1887. 

Antonini  Placentini  Itinerarium.    (Corp.    Script.   Eccl.   Lat.    xxxiiii., 

173.) 

Theodosius  De  Situ  Terras  Sanctas.     (Ibid.,  135.) 
DEAN  HOOK — Lives  of  the  Archbishops  of  Canterbury.     Vol.  ii. 

Itinerarium  regis  Anglorum  Richardi  et  aliorum  in  terram  Hierosoly- 
morum  auciore  Gaufrido  Vinisauf.  Apud  Historiae  Anglicanae 
Scriptores  Quinque.  Ed.  Thos.  Gale.  Vol.  ii.,  p.  245.  1687. 

KARAMSIN — Histoire  de  Russie.     Tomes  ii.  Y. 


APPENDIX  A  377 

J.  H.  NEWMAN — The  Lives  of  the  English  Saints,  written  by  various 
hands,  etc.,  vol.  i. 

Narratio  de  Fundatione  Fontanis  Monasterii  in  Comitatu  Eboracensi. 
Ed.  J.  R.  Walbran.     1863.     Vol.  i.     (Surtees  Society,  42.) 

Epistolce  Cantuarienscs.     No.  cccxlvi.     Ed.  Stubbs.     (Rolls  Series, 
38b.) 

P.  SABATIER — Life  of  St  Francis  of  Assist.     Trans.  L.  S.  Houghton. 
1896. 

Speculum  Perfectionis,  seu  S.  Francisci  Assisiensis  Legenda  Antiquis- 
sima,  auctore  Fratre  Leone.     Trans.  Sebastian  Evans.     1898. 

MATTHEW  ARNOLD — Essays  in  Criticism.     First  series.     1865. 

C.  J.  VON  HEFELE — Life  and  Times  of  Cardinal  Ximenes.      Trans. 
Dalton.     1885. 

ORDERICUS  VITALIS — Historia  ecclesiastica,  etc.     Apud   Monumenta 
Germanise  Historica.     Ed.  Pertz.     Scriptores  xx.,  50. 

MOURAVIEFF — The  Church  of  Russia.     Trans.  Blackmore.     1842. 
J.  COTTER  MORISON— Life  of  St  Bernard.     1863. 
JOSEPH  M 'CASE— Peter  A belard.     1901. 

JOHN  PINKERTON — Viias  antiques  Sanctorum  Scotia;.     Ed.    Metcalfe. 

1889. 

P.  PHASER  TYTLER— Scottish  Worthies.     3  vols.     1831-33. 
F.  PERRY— St  Louis.     1901. 

S.   KETTLE  WELL— A  uthorship  of  the  "  De  Imitatione  Christi."     1871. 
Thomas  d  Kempis  and  the  Brothers  of  Common  Life. 
2  vols.     1882. 

C.  WOLFEGRUBER — Giovanni  Gersent  sein  Leben  und  sein  Werk  "  De 
Imitatione  Christi.''     1880. 

DANTE — Divina  Commedia.     Trans.  Gary. 

W.  LANGLAND — Vision  of  Piers  Plowman.     Ed.  Skeat. 

For  the  legends  of  South- Western  France,  see  my  Article, 
"French  Stone-Superstitions"  in  the  Anglican  Church 
Magazine  for  October  1888,  vol.  v.,  p.  19.] 

DRUMMOND  OF  HAWTHORNDEN — "  A  Hymn  of  the  Ascension."    (Muses 

Library  Edition,  vol.  ii.) 
The   Golden  Legend.     Trans.    W.   Caxton.     (Temple    Classics,  ed, 

Ellis.) 


378  APPENDICES 

CHAPTER  V  (pages  113-143). 

BISHOP  CREIGHTON — History  of  the  Papacy  from  the  Great  Schism  to  the 
Sack  of  Rome.  New  Ed.  6  vols.  1897. 

John  Wyclif  at  Oxford.  Church  Quarterly  Review 
for  October  1877.  Reprinted  in  "Historical 
Essays  and  Reviews."  1902. 

Influence  of  the  Reformation  upon  England,  wiih 
Special  Reference  to  the  Works  and  Writings 
of  John  Wyclif.  A  Paper  read  at  the  Carlisle 
Church  Congress,  1884.  Reprinted  in  "The 
Church  and  the  Nation."  1901. 

B.  NIEHUES — Geschichte  des  Verhaltnisses  zicischen  Kaiserthum  und 
Papstthum  im  Mittelalter.  1863. 

L/ABBE  J.  B.  CHRISTOPHE — Histoire  de  la  Papaute  pendant  le  XVm* 
Siecle.  2  tomes.  1863. 

J.  LOSERTH— Hus  und  Wiclif.     1884. 

[See  also  my  Article  on  "John  Wyclif,"  in  the  Church 
Quarterly  Review  for  October  1891  (vol.  xxxiii.,  p.  115), 
and  the  authorities  there  cited.] 

J.  WYCLIF — De  quatuor  Sectis  Novellis.  (Wyclif  Society,  Polemical 
Works,  vol.  i.,  1883.) 

T.  WALSINGHAM— Historia  Anglicana.  Ed.  H.  T.  Riley.  Vol.  ii. 
(Rolls  Series,  28.) 

PASQUALE  VILLARI — Life  and  Times  of  Girolamo  Savonarola.  Trans. 
Linda  Villari.  2  vols.  1888. 

MARGARET  OLIPHANT — Makers  of  Florence  .  .  .  and  their  City,     1876. 

[See   also  my  Articles  on  "Savonarola"   in  the  Edinburgh 

Review  for   July  1889  (vol.   clxxix.,  p.  68),  and  in   the 

Church  Quarterly   Review   for  July    1889   (vol.   xxviii.,  p. 

426),  and  the  authorities  there  cited.] 

Meditatio  pia  et  erudita  Hier.  Savonarolaz  a  papa  exusti,  supra 
Psalmos  "  Miserere  mei "  et  (( In  te,  Domine,  speravi "  cum 
prcefatione  Lutheri.  1523. 

J.  C.  L.  GIESELER— Ecclesiastical  History.  Trans.  J.  W.  Hull.  1853. 
Vol.  iv. 

Table  talk  of  Martin  Luther.       Trans,  and  ed.  W.  Hazlitt.     1890. 

Martin  Luther  s  erste  und  dlteste  Vorlesungen  ubcr  die  Psalmen.  Ed. 
J.  C.  Seidemann.  1876. 


APPENDIX  A  379 

JULIUS    KOBBTLIN — Martin   Luther;   tein   Leben   and  Mine  Schriften. 
2nd  ed.     1883. 

FELIX  KUHN — Luther,  $a  Vie  et  son  cntvre.     2  tomes.     1883,  etc. 
T.  CARLYLE — Critical  and  Miscellaneous  Essays.     7  vols.     1889 

SIR  W.  STIRLING-MAXWELL — The  Cloister  Life  of  the  Emperor  Charles 
V.  3rd  ed.  1853. 

CLEMENTS  R.  MARKHAM — Life  of  Christopher  Columbus.     1892. 

HENRY  HARRISSE — Ckristophe  Colombe,  son  originef  sa  vie,  ses  voyages^ 
safamille,  et  ses  descendants.  2  tomes.  1884. 

JUSTIN  WINSOR — Christopher  Columbus,  and  how  he  received  and 
imparted  the  spirit  of  Discovery.  1893. 

Hakluyt    Society,   vol.    ii.    (1847);   vol.  xliii.   (1870);   vol.    Ixxxvi. 

(1893). 

BISHOP  STUBBS — Seventeen  Lectures  on  the  Study  of  Medieval  and 
Modern  History.  3rd  ed.  1900. 

T.  E.  BRIDGETT — Life  and  Writings  of  Sir  Thomas  More.     1891 
Life  of  Blessed  John  Fisher.     1888. 

WILLIAM  ROPER — Life  and  Death  of  Sir  Thomas  More.  Ed.  S.  W 
Singer.  1822. 

PAUL  FRIEDMANN — Anne  Boleyn.     2  vols.     1884 

JAMES  GAIRDNER — Letters  and  Papers.     Vols.  vii.,  ix. 

J.  M.  N.  D.  NISARD — Renaissance  et  Reforme.     3rd.  ed.     1877. 

F.  SEEBOHM— The  Oxford  Reformers  of  1498.     1867, 

Giovanni  Pico  delta  Mirandola,  his  Life;  by  G  F  Pico.  Also 
three  of  his  Letters,  and  his  interpretation  oj  Psalm  X  VL  Trans, 
by  Sir  T.  More.  Ed.  J.  M.  Rigg.  1890. 

Erasmi  Epistolce.     Ed.  Leyden. 

Early  English  Text  Society  (Extra  Series,  XXVII.)—  Treatise  con- 
cernynge  .  ,  .  the  seuen  Penytencyall  Psalmes.  Emprynted  by 
Wynkyn  de  Worde,  12  luyn,  M.CCCCC.IX.  (English  Works  of 
John  Fisher.  Part  I.  Ed.  J.  E.  B.  Mayor.  1876.) 

LORD  ACTON — Wolsey  and  the  Divorce  of  Henry  VIII.  (Quarterly 
Review  for  January,  1877.) 

A.  WOLTMANN — Holbein  and  kit  Time,  Trans.  F.  E.  Bunnett. 
1873, 


380  APPENDICES 

J.  M.  STONE — Faithful  unto  Death.  An  Account  of  the  Sufferings  of 
the  English  Franciscans  during  the  16th  and  llth  Centuries. 
1892. 

J.  A.  FROUDE — History  of  England.     Ed.  1856. 

Life  and  Letters  of  St  Francis  Xavier.  Ed.  Henry  James 
Coleridge.  New  Ed.  2  vols.  1886. 

[See  also  my  Article  on  "  St  Francis  Xavier  "  in  the  Church 
Quarterly  Review  for  April  1889  (vol.  xxviii.,  p.  160), 
and  the  authorities  there  cited.] 

MRS  G.  CUNNINGHAME  GRAHAM — Santa  Teresa,  etc.     2  vols.     1894 

Life  and  Letters  of  St  Teresa.  Ed.  Henry  James  Coleridge. 
3  vols.  1881. 

PARKER  SOCIETY — Later  Writings  oj  Bishop  Hooper.  Ed.  C. 
Nevinson.  1852, 

JOHN  FOXE — Acts  and  Monuments.  Vol.  vii.  (Ed.  Pratt  and 
Stoughton ;  8  vols.)  1877. 

JOHN  BAYLEY — History  and  Antiquities  of  the  Tower  of  London. 
2nd  ed.  1830. 

ROBERT  SOUTHWELL — Complete  Poems.  Ed.  A.  B.  Grosart.  1872 
(Fullers  Worthies  Library.} 


CHAPTER  VI  (pages  144-179). 

Dictionary  of  Hymnoiogy.  Ed.  John  Julian.  See  "Old  Version." 
"Psalters,  English";  "Psalters,  French0;  "Scottish 
Hymnody  "  ;  "  German  Hymnody." 

C.  E.  P.  WACKERNAGEL — Das  deutsche  Kirchenlied  von  der  dltesten  Zeit, 
etc.  Leipzig,  5  Bde.  1864-7. 

CATHARINE  WINK  WORTH— Chorale  Book  for  England.    1863.    Nos.  40, 

101,  149. 

Christian  Singers  of  Germany.     1869. 
Lyra  Germanica.     2nd  Series.     1858. 

FELIX  BOVET — Histoire  du  Psautier  des  Eglises  Reformees.     1872. 

E.  O.  DOUEN — Clement  Marot  et  le  Psautier  Huguenot,  etc.     2  tomes. 

1878. 

Histoire  ecclesiastique  des  Eglises  Reformees  du  royaume  de  France. 
Tome  I.     (Wrongly  attributed  to  Beza.)     3  tomes.     1841-42, 


APPENDIX  A  381 

THOMAS  STERNHOLD — Certayne  Psalmes,  chose  out  of  the  Psalter  of 
David  and  drawe  into  Englishe  metre  by  Thomas  Stcrnhold,  grome 
of  ye  Kyng's  Maiestie's  roobes.  N.D. 

Al  such  Psalmes  of  David  as  Thomas  Sternholdc,  late  grome  oj  the 
Kynge's  Maiestie's  roobes,  did  in  kit  lyfe  tyme  drawe  into  English 
metre.  (1549.) 

Psalmes  of  David  in  Metre,  drawen  into  Englishe  flfetre  by  M.  Sterne- 
holde.  Imprinted  in  London  in  Flete  Strete  at  the  signe  of  the 
Sunne  over  against  the  conduit  by  Edward  Whitchurche,  the 
xxii  day  of  June,  ANNO  DOM.  1551. 

One  andjiftie  Psalmes  of  Dauid  in  Englishe  Metre,  whereof  37  were 
made  by  Thomas  Sternholde,  dd  the  rest  by  others,  etc.  1556. 

The  whole  Book  of  Psalmes,  collected  into  English  metre  by  T.  Stern- 
hold,  John  Hopkins  and  others;  conferred  with  the  Ebruet  with 
apt  notes  to  sing  them  withal,  etc.  John  Daye.  1562. 

A  New  Version  of  the  Psalms  of  David,  Fitted  to  the  Tunes  used  in 
Churches,  by  N.  Tote  and  N.  Brady.  1696. 

J.  STRYPE — The  Life  and  Acts  of  Matthew  Parker  .  .  .  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury.  1711. 

Ane  Copendious  buik  of  godlie  Psalmes  and  Spirituall  Sangis.     1578. 

The  Forme  of  Prayers  and  Ministration  of  the  Sacrament,  etc.,  where- 
unto  are  also  added  sondrie  other  prayers,  with  the  whole  Psalmes 
of  Dauid  in  English  Meter.  Printed  at  Edinburgh  by  Robert 
Lekprevik,  MDLXHII. 

The  Psalmes  of  King  David,  translated  by  King  James.  Oxford, 
1631. 

The  Psalmes  of  David  in  Meter.  Newly  translated  and  diligently 
compared  with  the  Original  Text  and  former  Translations :  More 
plain,  smooth,  and  agreeable  to  the  Text  than  any  heretofore. 
Allowed  by  the  Authority  of  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Kirk  of 
Scotland,  and  appointed  to  be  sung  in  Congregations  and  Families. 
Edinburgh,  1650. 

T.  WARTON— History  of  English  Poetry.  Vol.  iv.  Ed.  Hazlitt. 
4  vols.  1871. 

The  Chronicle  of  Queen  Jane,  etc.  (Camden  Society,  Old  Series. 
No.  48.) 

JOHN  LOTHROP  MOTLEY— 3TAe  Rise  of  the  Dutch  Republic.  New 
edition.  3  vols.  Ed.  Moncure  D.  Conway.  1896. 

Accounts  and  Papers  relating  to  Mary  Queen  of  Scots.  (Camden 
Society,  Old  Series.  No.  93.) 


382  APPENDICES 

J.  A.  FROUDE — History  of  England.     Vols.  viii.  and  ix. 
J.  SKELTON— Mary  Stuart.     1893. 

J.  HOSACK — Mary  Queen  of  Scots  and  her  Accusers.     2nd  ed.     2  vols. 

1870-74. 
ANDREW  LANG — The  Mystery  of  Mary  Stuart.     1901. 

HON.  M.  M.  MAXWELL  SCOTT — The  Tragedy  of  Fotheringay,  etc. 
1895. 

LUCY  AIKIN — Memoirs  of  the  Court  of  Queen  Elizabeth.  2  vols. 
Ed.  1818. 

JOHN  HOLLAND — Psalmists  of  Britain.     1843. 

H.  A.  GLASS—  The  story  of  the  Psalters,  etc.     1888. 

PHILIP  JONES — A  true  Report  of  a  worthy  Jight,  performed  in  the  voyage 
from  Turkic,  byjiue  ships  of  London,  against  1 1  Gallies  and  two 
Frigats  of  the  King  of  Spaines,  at  Pantalarea  within  the  streights. 
Anno  1586. 

[See  p.  285  of  the  second  volume  of  the  Principall  Naviga- 
tions, Voyages,  Traffiques  and  Discoveries  of  the  English 
Nation  ...  by  Richard  Hakluyt.  1599.] 

The  Casting  away  of  the  "  Tobie "  neere  Cape  Espartel,  corruptly 
called  Cape  Sprat,  without  the  straight  of  Gibraltar  on  the  Coast  of 
Barbaric,  1593. 

[See  p.  201  of  the  Second  Part  of  the  second  volume  of 
Hakluyt's  Principall  Navigations,  as  above.] 

JAMES  SPEDDING — An  Account  of  the  Life  and  Times  of  Bacon.     1878. 
WILLIAM  STEBBING — Sir  Walter  Ralegh.     (Re-issue,  1899.) 

JOHN    RvsKin—Bibliotheca   Pastorum.      Vol.    ii.      (1877.)     "Rock 

Honeycomb." 
C.  W.  LE  BAS—  The  Life  of  Bishop  Jewel.     1832. 

I.   WALTON — The  Lives  of  .   .  .   Mr  Richard  Hooker,  Mr   George 

Herbert,  etc.     Ed   1866. 
G.  HERBERT—  Works.     2  vols.     Ed.  1844. 
RICHARD  HOOKER — Ecclesiastical  Polity. 

CHAPTERS  VII  AND  VIII  (pages  180-228). 
F.  BOVET — Histoire  du  Psaulier  des  Eglises  Reformees.     1872. 

E.  O.  DOUEN — Clement  Marot  et  le  Psautier  Huguenot,  etc.     2  tomes. 

1878-9. 
H.  L.  BORDIER-— Le  Chansonnier  Huguenot  du  X  VIe  Siecle.     1870. 


APPENDIX  A  383 

A.  COQUEREL,  FILS — Les  Formats  pour  la  Foi.  6tude  historique 
(1684-1775).  1866. 

A.  COURT — Histoire  des  troubles  des  Cevennes,  ou  de  la  Guerre  des 
Camisards,  etc.  Nouvelle  ed.  3  tomes.  1819. 

FLORIMOND  DE  REMOND — Histoire  de  la  naissancc,  progress,  et  decadence 
de  I'heresie  de  ce  Siecle.  Rouen.  1623. 

J.  CRESPIN — Histoire  des  Martyrs.     1582. 

F.  STRADA — De  bello  Belgico. 

N.  A.  F.  PUAUX — Histoire  de  la  R^formationfran^aise.     1857. 

A.  CROTTET — Petite  Chronique  Protestante  de  France,  etc.  16"*  Siecle. 
1846. 

G.  VON    POLENZ — Geschickte   des  Jranzosischen    Calvinismus  bis  zur 

Nationalversammlung.     5  Bde.     1787. 

E.  BENOIST — Histoire  de  Uedit  de  Nantes.     1693-5.     3  tomes. 

F.  DE  LA  NOUE — Discours  politiques  et  militaires.     1587. 

F.  LEGUAT — Voyages  et  Avantures.  2  tomes.  1708.  (And  see 
Hakluyt  Society.  1891.) 

H.  MORLEY — Life  of  Palissy.     2  vols.     1852. 

Louis  PALAYSI — Bernard  Palissy  et  les  debuts  de  la  Reforme  en  Saint- 
ogne.  1899. 

Aulcuns  Pseaulmes  et  Cantiques  mys  en  Chant.     A  Strasburg      1539. 
[Calvin's   translations  were    Pss.    xxv.,   xxxvi.,    xlvi.,    xci., 
cxxxviii.) 

Les  cinquantc  psaumes  de  Marot,  suivis  de  la  littirgie  et  du  catechisme 
et  precAtes  de  la  preface  de  Calvin,  du  10  Juin,  1543.  Geneve, 
1543. 

[See  Bovet,  Hist,  du  Psauiier.   Bibliographic,  1*"  Partie,  Nos. 
5,6.] 

PAUL  HENRY,  D.D.— The  Life  and  Times  oj  John  Calvin,  the  Great 
Reformer.  Trans.  H.  Stebbing.  2  vols.  1899. 

T.  H.  DYER—  The  Life  of  John  Calvin.     1850. 

BEZA — Vie  de  J.  Calvin,  par  Theodore  de  Beze.  Nouvelle  ed.  publiee 
et  annotee  par  Alfred  Franklin.  1869. 

Let  Censures  des  thtologiens  de  Paris  par  lesquelles  ils  auoyent 
faulsement  condamne  les  Bibles  imprimees  par  Robert  Estienne 
.  .  .  auec  la  response  d'iceluy.  1552. 

Bulletin  de  la  Societe  d'histoirc  du  Protcstantisme.     Tome  iii. 


384  APPENDICES 

JEAN   DE   SERRES — Inventaire   General   de  Fhistoire  de  France.     Ed. 

1647. 
F.  A.  GASQUET — Henry  VIII.  and  the  English  Monasteries.     2  vols. 

1888. 
LADY  GEORGIANA  FULLER-TON — Life  of  Luisa  de  Carvajal.     1873. 

[For  Coligny,  see  my  Article  on  "  Gaspard  de  Coligny  "  in 
the  Church  Quarterly  Review  for  January  1891  (vol.  xxxi., 
p.  361),  and  the  authorities  there  cited.] 
T.  A.  D'AUBIGNE— Histoire  Universelle.     1616-20. 
ANGLIVIEL   DE   LA   BAUMELLE — Memoires   pour   servir  a   Vhistoire  de 

Madame  de  Maintenon.     1755.     (Letter  of  Madame  d'Aubigne.) 

Also    quoted    by    Puaux,    Hist,    de    la   Reformation   Frangaise. 

Tome  V.,  and  in  P.  de  Noailles,  Hist,  de  Madame  de  Maintenon. 

Tome  I.,  chap.  ii. 

[For  Henri  de  Rohan,  and  the  Siege  of  La  Rochelle,  see  my 
Article  on  "  Henri  de  Rohan  and  the  Huguenot  Wars  "  in 
the  Edinburgh  Review  for  April  1890  (vol.  clxxi.,  p.  389), 
and  the  authorities  there  cited.] 
MONTAIGNE — Essais.     Liv.  I.  ch.  Ivi.  (des  Prieres). 
PHIL.  DESPORTES — Les  CL.  Pseaumes  mis  en  versfrangais.     1598. 
JEAN  METEZEAU — Les  CL.  Pseaumes  mis  en  versfrangais,  etc.     1610. 
MICHEL  DE  MARILLAC — Les  CL.  Pseaumes  de  David,  etc.     Traduits  en 

vers  frangais.     1625. 
ANT.  GODEAU — Paraphrase  des  Pseaumes  de  David  en  vers  frang ais. 

1648. 

R.  F.  WILSON— -Life  of  St  Vincent  de  Paul.     1873. 
H.    HEINE — Werke.       Ed.    Hoffmann    und    Campe.    Romanzero; 

Hebraische  Melodien.     Letter  to  Moser,  23rd  May  1823. 
BISHOP  J.  P.  CAMUS — Esprit  de  St  Frangois  de  Sales.     Nouvelle  ed. 

3  tomes.     1840. 
S.  Francis  de  Sales,  Bishop  and  Prince  of  Geneva.     1882.    ("  Christian 

Biographies."     Ed.  H.  L.  Sidney  Lear.) 
Memoire  veritable  du  prix  excessive  des  vivres  de  la  Rochelle  pendant 

le  siege.     1628. 

[See  E.  Fournier,  Varietes  historiques,  etc.      1855-63.] 
Memoires  pour  servir  d   fhistoire  de  Port  Royal,  et  a.   la  vie  de  la 

Reverende  mere  Marie  Angelique  de  Sainte  Magdeleine  Arnauld. 

3  tomes.     Utrecht,  1742. 
Histoire   des  Persecutions  de   Religieuses  de   Port  Royal   ecrites  par 

dies  memes.      (Relation  de  ce  qui  s'est  passe  a  Port  Royal  en 

1661.)     Chapitre  xxii.     Ville-Franche,  1753. 


APPENDIX  A  385 

EMILE  BOUTROUX — Pascal.     (Les  grands  ecrivains  francais.) 

A.  MONASTIER — Histoire  dc  CEglise  Vaudoise.     2  tomes.     1847. 

B.  MUSTON — L' Israel  des  Alpes.     4  tomes.     1851. 

CHARLES  COQUEREL — Histoire  des  Eglises  du  Desert,  etc.  2  tomes, 
1841.  Tome  II. 

N.  PEYRAT — Histoire  des  Pasteurs  du  desert.     2  tomes.     1842. 

Theatre  Sacre  des  Cevennes  (quoted  by  Douen,  Clement  Marot, 
etc.  Tome  I.,  p.  25). 

CHAPTER  IX  (pages  229-260). 
EDWARD  ARBER — The  Story  of  the  Pilgrim  Fathers,  etc.     1897. 

EDWARD  JOHNSON  —  Wonder-working  Providence  of  Sions  Saviour : 
being  a  relation  of  the  First  Planting  of  New  England  in  the  Year 
1628.  Part  III.  of  Sir  Ferdinando  Gorge's  America  Painted  to 
the  Life.  1659. 

The  Works  of  Benjamin  Franklin.  Ed.  Jared  Sparks.  10  vols. 
1840. 

The  Works  of  Jeremy  Taylor,  D.D.     Ed.  Heber.     15  vols.     1822. 
IZAAK  WALTON—  The  Life  of  Dr  Robert  Sanderson.     1678. 

The  Letters  and  Journals  of  Robert  Baillie,  A.M.  Edited  for  the 
Bannatyne  Club  by  David  Laing,  vol.  i.  3  vols.  1841-42. 

WALTER  FARQUHAR  HOOK — Lives  of  the  Archbishops  of  Canterbury. 
Laud.  (New  Series,  vol.  vi.)  1875. 

SIR  HENRY  SLINGSBY  —  Original  Memoirs  written  during  the  Great 
Civil  War.  Ed.  Sir  W.  Scott.  1806. 

CLARENDON,  EARL  OF — History  of  the  Rebellion  and  Civil  Wars  in 
England.  8  vols.  1826. 

JOHN  MILTON—  Works.     "  Globe  "  Edition.     1877. 

JOHN  BUNYAN — Grace  Abounding  to  the  Chief  of  Sinners,  etc.     1666. 

THOMAS  CARLYLE — Oliver  Cromwell's  Letters  and  Speeches.  Copyright 
Edition.  5  vols.  1888. 

2B 


386  APPENDICES 

CHAPTER  X  (pages  261-296). 

PATRICK  WALKER — Six  Saints  of  the  Covenant.    Ed.  D.  T'ay  Fleming. 

With  a  "  Foreword  "  by  S.  R.  Crockett.     1901. 
JOHN   KNOX — The  History  of  the  Reformation  of  Religion  within  the, 

Realm  of  Scotland.     Ed.  Charles  John  Guthrie.     1898. 
A  Compendious  Book  of  Godly   and   Spiritual   Songs.      Ed.    A.    F. 

Mitchell,  D.D.     1897. 
JOHN  HOWIE — Biographia  Scoticana.     Ed.  1796. 

Autobiography  and  Diary  of  Mr  James  Melvill.  Edited  for  the 
Wodrow  Society.  1842. 

JAMES  DODDS — The  Fifty  Years'  Struggle  of  the  Scottish  Covenanters. 
1860. 

ROBERT  WODROW — The  History  of  the  Sufferings  of  the  Church  of 
Scotland,  etc.  Ed.  Rev.  R.  Burns.  4  vols.  1828-30. 

ANDREW  CRICHTON — Memoirs  of  the  Rev.  John  Blackader.     1823. 
A  Cloud  of  Witnesses  for  the  Royal  Prerogative  of  Jesus  Christ,  etc. 
Ed.  J.  H.  Thomson.     1871. 

JOSEPH  M'CoRMicK — Life  of  Mr  Carstares.  (Prefixed  to  State  Papers 
and  letters  addressed  to  William  Carstares,  etc.)  Ed.  1774. 

The  Siege  of  Londonderry  in  1689;  as  set  forth  in  the  Literary 
Remains  of  Col.  The  Rev.  George  Walker,  D.D.  Ed.  Rev. 
Philip  Dwyer.  1893. 

CHAPTER  XI  (pages  297-329). 

WILLIAM  ORME— Life  of  Richard  Baxter.  (Prefixed  to  his  Works. 
Ed.  1830.) 

[See  also  my  rticles  on  "  Alexander  Pope "  and 
"  Courthope's  Life  of  Pope"  in  the  Edinburgh  Review 
for  October  1884  (vol.  clx.,  p.  295),  and  the  Quarterly 
Review  for  October  1889  (vol.  clxix.,  p.  247)]. 

WILLIAV  LAW — A  Serious  Call  to  a  Devout  and  Holy  Life,  etc.,  1729. 
EDWARD  GIBBON — Autobiographies.     Ed.  John  Murray.     1896. 

[JOHN  WESLEY] — Collection  of  Psalms  and  Hymns.  (Charles  Town. 
Printed  by  Lewis  Timothy,  1737.)  A  facsimile  reprint  was 
published,  with  a  Preface  by  Dr  Osborn,  in  London  in  1882. 

CHARLES  WESLEY — The  Poetical  Works  of  John  and  Charles  Wesley, 
etc.  Collected  and  Arranged  by  George  Osborn.  13  vols. 
1868-72. 


APPENDIX  A  387 

JOHN  WESLEY — Journal.     4  vols.  1827. 

LUKE  TYERMAK— Life  of  George  Whitcficld.     2  vols.     1876-7. 

PRINCE   HOARS  —  Memoirs  of  Granville  Sharp.     2nd    ed.      2  vols. 

1828. 

Life  of  William  Wilberforce.     By  his  Sons.     2nd  ed.     1843. 

JOHN  KEBLE— TA<?  Christian  Year.     1828. 

The  Psalter,  or  Psalms  of  David,  in  English  Verse,  by  a  Member  of 
the  University  of  Oxford.     1839. 

E.  S.  PURCELL — Life  of  Cardinal  Manning.     2  vols.     1896. 

J.    H.   NEWMAN —  Verses   on    Various    Occasions :    "  The    Dream    of 
Gerontius."     New  ed.     1893. 

DEAN  STANLEY — Life  and  Correspondence  of  Thomas  Arnold,  D.D. 
2  vols.     1846. 

Charles  Kingsley ;  his  Letters  and  Memories  of  his  Life.     Edited  by 
his  Wife.     2  vols.     Ed.  1877. 

ROBERT  BUCHANAN — The  Ten  Years'  Conflict,  being  the  History  of  the 
Disruption  of  the  Church  of  Scotland.     2  vols.     1849. 

W.  HANNA — Memoirs  of  the  Life  and  Writings  of  Thomas  Chalmers, 
D.D.,  LL.D.,  4  vols.     1849-53. 

MRS  OLIPHANT — The  Life  of  Edward  Irving.     4th  ed.     1865. 
H.  R.  Fox  BOURNE— The  Life  of  John  Locke.     2  vols.     1876. 

F.  H.     ALEXANDER     VON     HUMBOLDT  —  Cosmos.     Trans.     Colonel 

Sabine.     2nd  ed.     1846-58. 

JOHN  VEITCH — Memoir  of  Sir  William  Hamilton,  Bart.     1869. 

JOHN  DUNS — Memoir  of  Sir  James  Y.  Simpson,  Bart.     1873. 

The  Life  and  Letters  of  George  John  Romanes.    By  his  Wife.    1896. 

ROBERT  SOUTHEY — Life  of  William  Cowper.    (Prefixed  to  his  Works.) 

Ed.  1836. 
JOHN  GIBSON  LOCKHART — Memoirs  of  the  Life  of  Sir  Walter  Scott, 

Bart.     10  vols.     1839. 

MRS  GARDEN — Memorials  of  James  Hogg.     1887. 

JOHN  GLYDE — The  Life  of  Edward  Fitzgerald,  with  an  Introduction  by 
Edward  Clodd.     1900. 

Letters  and  Literary  Remains  of  Edward  Fitzgerald.      Ed.  William 
Aldis  Wright.     3  vols.     1889. 


388  APPENDICES 

THOMAS    CARLYLE — On   Heroes,   Hero-worship,   and    the    Heroic    in 
History.     (See  Lectures  II.  and  V.)     Ed.   1891. 

JOHN  RUSKIN — Prceterita.     Vol.  i. 

Our  Fathers  have  told  Us.     Chap.  iii. 
Modern  Painters.     Part  vii.,  Chap.  iv. 


CHAPTER  XII  (pages  330-368). 

JAMES  BALDWIN  BROWN — Memoirs  of  the  Public  and  Private  Life  of 
John  Howard.     1818. 

JOHN  HOWARD — An  Account  of  the  Principal  Lazarettos  in  Europe, 
etc.     1789. 

CONVERS     FRANCIS — Life    of    John    Eliot.     (Library    of  American 
Biography,  ed.  J.  Sparks,  vol.  v.,  1836.) 

JONATHAN  EDWARDS  THE  ELDER — An  Account  of  the  Life  of  David 
Brainerd  .  .  .  chiejly  .  .  .  from  his  own  Diary.     1749. 

GEORGE  SMITH — The  Life  of   William  Carey,  D.D.,  Shoemaker  and 

Missionary.     1885. 

The  Life  of  Alexander  Duff.     2  vols.     1879. 

Journals   and   Letters    of   Henry   Martyn.     Ed.    S.    Wilberforce. 
2  vols.     1837. 

REV.  JOHN  SARGENT — Memoir  of  the  Life  of  Henry  Martyn.     1819. 
REV.  J.  W.  MARSH— A  Memoir  of  A.  F.  Gardiner.     1857. 

WILLIAM  GARDEN  BLAIKIE — The  Personal  Life  of  David  Livingstone. 

1880. 

The  Last  Journals  of  David  Livingstone.     Ed.  H.  Waller.     2  vols. 
1874. 

E.  C.  DAWSON — James  Hannington,  first  Bishop  of  Eastern  Equatorial 

Africa.     1887. 
Autobiography  of  Alexander  Carlyle.     1860. 

PHILIP  DODDRIDGE — Some  Remarkable  Passages  in  the  Life  of .  .  .  Col. 
Gardiner.     1747. 

JAMES  ANTHONY  FROUDE — Life  of  Thomas  Carlyle :  a  History  of  his 

Life,  vol.  ii.     4  vols.     1884. 
Letters  and  Memorials  of  Jane  Welsh  Carlyle.     3  vols.     1883. 

HONORE  DE  BALZAC — Les  Chouans  ;  ou  la  Bretagne  en  1799.     2nd  ed. 
1834. 


APPENDIX  A  389 

LOUISE  H.  C.   P.   DE   DURFORT,  DUCHBSSE  DE  DURAS — Journal  des 
Prisons  de  man  pere,  de  ma  mere  et  des  miennes.     1888. 

CAPTAIN  JOHN  GROVER — An  Appeal  to  the  British  Nation  in  Behalf  of 

Col.  Stoddart  and  Capt.  Conolly,  now  in 
Captivity  in  Bokhara.     1843. 
The  Bokhara  Victims.     2nd  ed.     1845. 

JOHN  WILLIAM  KAVE — Lives  oj  Indian  Officers.     2  rols.     1867. 
JOHN  CLARK  MARSHMAN — Memoirs  of  Major-General  Sir  H.  Havelock. 
1860. 

WILLIAM  EDWARDS — Personal  Adventures  during  the  Indian  Rebellion, 
etc.     1858. 

W.  FORBES  MITCHELL — Reminiscences  of  the  Great  Mutiny.     1895. 
PAUL  KRUGER — Memoirs,  told  by  Himself.     2  vols.     1902. 


APPENDIX  B 


INDEX   TO   THE   USE   OF  PARTICULAR   PSALMS 


IN  this  index  the  historical  instances  of  the  use  of  the  Psalter, 
which  in  the  text  are  given  chronologically,  are  arranged  under 
the  particular  Psalms  to  which  they  refer. 


PSALMS  i.-vin. — Milton,  243. 
PSALM  i. — Byron,  321 ;  Ruskin,  327. 
v.  2.  Jerome,  24. 

4.  Boswell,  320. 
PSALM  n. — Luther,  123. 
PSALM  in. — English  nation,  167, 168  ; 

The  Huguenots,  182. 
v.  5,  6.  Duff  (Indian  Mutiny),  361. 
PSALM  iv. — Luther,  122. 
v.  1.  Augustine,  37. 
2.  Augustine,  38. 
7.  James  Melville,  266 ;  James 

Gardiner,  354. 

9.  Gorgonia,  16 ;  Luther,  16,  17, 
122;  Langland,  108 ;  Ridley, 
139. 

PSALM  v.— 1>.  7.  Louis  IX.,  98. 
PSALM     vi.— Becket,     76;      Bishop 
Hooper,  139 ;    Marot's  version, 
146  w. ;    Catherine  de    Medicis, 
181. 
v.  1.  Florin  of  Edward  III.,  4. 

2.  Maine  de  Biran,  317. 

2-4.  Jane  Welsh  Carlyle,  355. 

3.  Calvin,  185. 

6.  Langland,  109. 
PSALM  vm.— Ruskin,  327. 
v.  1,  2.  Chaucer,  107. 
2.  Martin  of  Tours,  28. 

4.  Bernard  Palissy,  184. 

5.  Earl  of  Arundel,  140. 

6.  7.  Butchers'  Company,  3,  4. 
PSALM  ix.—  v.  10.  Dante,  104. 

12.  Archbishop  Laud,  240. 
PSALM  x.— Henry  Martyn,  342. 
PSALH  xi. —Mary,  Queen  of  ScoU, 

166. 
PSAJLK  xii.— Luther,  145  ; 

170 ;  Ruskin,  327. 
v.  6.  John  Howard,  332. 
890 


PSALM  xm. — v.  1.  Calvin,  185. 

3.    Saracen,    apud   Gregory  of 

Decapolis,  13. 

PSALM  xiv. — Queen  Elizabeth,  161 : 
Ruskin,   327;    Henry    Martyn, 
343. 
v.  1.  Bacon,  171. 

2.  Baldwin,  81. 
PSALM    xv. — Ruskin,    327       Henry 

Martyn,  343. 
v.  1.  Langland,  108. 

6.  Langland,  108. 

PSALM    xvi.  —  Jean    Rousseau    and 
Duchess  of  Orleans,  188 ;  Hugh 
M'Kail,    273;    Henry    Martyn, 
343. 
v.  4.  William  Carey,  338. 

7.  Beauchamp  family  motto,  3. 

12.  James  Melville,  266. 
PSALM  xvri. — John  Gibson,  286. 

v.  5.  John  Howard,  331. 
16.  Julius  Hare,  309 ;  John  How- 
ard, 332. 
PSALM  xvm. — ».    10.     Shakespeare, 

174. 

18.  Shakespeare,  175. 
25-27.      Rev.     George     Walker, 
294. 

28.  James  Melville,  267. 

29.  Mause  Headrigg,  272. 
39,  40.  Clovis,  69. 

PSALM    xix. — Joseph  Addison,  319 ; 

Ruskin,  327. 
v.  5.  Shakespeare,  175;  Milton,  243. 

13.  Bunyan,  247,  248. 

PiALM  xx.— Gwynlliu  and  Cadoc,  56 ; 

Sir  James  Simpson,  318. 
v.  7.  Antony,    21  ;    Patrick,    48 ; 
Adelme,  of  Chaise-Dieu,  3* 
9.  National  Anthem,  3. 


APPENDIX  B 


391 


PSALM  xrr. — Henry  of  Navarre,  198. 
PSALM  xxn.— Bishop  Hooper,  139. 
v.  1.  Richard  I.,  82. 
12.  Shakespeare,  173. 
21.  Royal  supporters,  3. 
27.  Henry  Marty  n,  342. 
PSAI.M  xxiii. — Chosen  by  Augustine 
as   the  hymn   of  martyrs,   12 ; 
Bishop    Hooper,    138;    George 
Herbert,  177  ;  Isabel  Alison  and 
Marion    Harvie,    287;    Edward 
Irving,  314;    Joseph    Addison, 
319 ;  Byron,  321  ;   Ruskin,  326, 
327. 
v.  1.  Neander,  310. 

4.  James  Melville,  266  ;  Sir  Wil- 
liam Hamilton,  317 ;  John 
Howard,    331 ;    Alexander 
Duff,  346. 
6.  Benedictine  Rule,  59 ;  father 

of  Richard  Cameron,  279. 
PSALM  xxrv.— Legends  of  South- West 

France,  110  ;  Ruskin,  327. 
v.  1.  Great  Exhibition  of  1851,  4. 
7-10.  Langland,  109;  The  tfo&fen 

Legend,  112;  Milton,  243. 
8.  Alfred,  Neot,  65. 
PSALM  xxv.— Margaret  Wilson,  288. 
v.  1.  Louis  IX.,  98. 

6.  Pico  della  Mirandola,  127. 

13.  William  Edwards  (Indian  Mu- 

tiny), 363. 

14.  Francois  de  Sales,  210. 

16.  William  Edwards  (Indian  Mu- 
tiny), 363. 
PSALM  xxvi.—  v.  2.  Abelard,  97. 

8.  Paula,  26  ;  Hugh  of  Cluni,  61. 
10.  Langland,  108. 

PSALM  xxvu.— Rev.  George  Walker, 
294  ;  G.  J.  Romanes,  318  ;  James 
Hannington,  352. 

v.  1.  Oxford  University,  4;  Savona- 
rola, 121 ;  Francois  de  Sales, 
209  ;  James  Melville,  266. 

9.  Gregory  the  Great,  58. 
14-16.  William  Edwards  (Indian 

Mutiny),  363. 
14.  Allen  Gardiner,  347. 
16.  Lady  Jane  Grey,  154. 
PSALM  xxvm. — James  Hannington, 

352. 

v.  8.  Coins  of  Black  Prince,  4. 
PSALM  xxix.—  v.  8.  George  Herbert, 

177. 
PSALM  xxx. — Bishop    Hooper,  132 ; 

James  Hannington,  352. 
PSALM  xxxi. —Savonarola,  120,  121; 
Charles  V.,  125;    Fisher,    132; 
Bishop  Hooper,  139. 
v.  1.  Mere  Ange"lique,  215  ;  Xavier, 
135. 


PSALM  xxxi.— v.  1-8.  Dante,  106. 

6.  Our  Saviour,  6  ;   Stephen,  6 ; 

Basil,  18  ;  Charlemagne,  71 ; 
Becket,  76  ;  Hus,  116,  127 ; 
Jerome  of  Prague,  117 ; 
Luther,  122,  127;  Melanc- 
thon,  122;  Tasso,  127; 
Columbus,  127  ;  Charles  V., 
126;  Fisher,  132,  139;  John 
Houghton,  133;  Thomas 
Cromwell,  139 ;  Hooper, 
139;  Ridley,  140;  Robert 
Southwell,  143 ;  Lady  Jane 
Grey,  156;  Duke  of  Suffolk, 
156;  Egmont,  160;  Horn, 
160 ;  Mary,  Queen  of  Scots, 
166 ;  George  Herbert,  177  ; 
Wishart,  264;  John  Knox, 
264;  Hugh  M'Kail,  273; 
Donald  Cargill,  279  ;  James 
Renwick,  285  ;  Newman  — 
Gerontius,  308  ;  Henry 
Martyn,  341  ;  Madame  de 
Noailles,  357. 
PSALM  xxxii.  —  Augustine,  38 ; 

Ruskin,  326. 

V.  1.  Dante,  106  ;  Langland,  108. 
2.  Izaak  Walton,  235. 

7.  8.  Alexander  Peden,  281. 
PSALM    xxxm.  —  v.   2.    Benedictine 

Rule,  60. 

17,  18.  Madame  Prosni,  214. 
PSALM  xxxiv.— William  Law,  303. 
».  1.  Theodore  the  Martyr,  13. 
5.  Fisher,  132. 

10.  Columba,    51;    Allen    Gar- 

diner, 347. 

11.  Baithen,  52. 

11-15.— Benedictine  Rule,  58. 
PSALM  xxxv. — v.  3,  Thomas  a  Kempis, 

102. 

10.  Thomas  a  Kempis,  102. 
23.  The  Armada,  80,  167,  182. 
PSALM  xxxvi. — v.  7.  Langland,  108. 
PSALM  xxxvu. — v.  5.  David  Living- 
stone, 350. 

16.  Jeanie  Deans  (Scott),  272. 
25.  Jeanie    Deans,    272;    Baillie 

of  Jerviswood,  284. 
F&ALM  xxxvin.— Bishop  Hooper,  139. 
v.  7.  Maine  de  Biran,  317. 
15.  George  Herbert,  177. 
PSALM  xxxix. — Ambrose,  38. 
v.  1.  Pambo,  22 ;  Benedictine  Rule, 
59. 

8.  Shakespeare,  175. 
10.  Calvin,  185. 

PSALM  XL.—  v.  1.  Fra^ois  de  Sales, 

209. 

2.  Francis  of  Assisi,  91  ;  Robert 
Southwell,  141. 


392 


APPENDICES 


PSALM  XL. — v.  5.  Franujois  de  Sales, 

209. 

6.  Cromwell,  259. 
21.  Queen  Elizabeth,  160,  161. 
PSALM  XLII.  —Daniel  M'Michael,  286. 
v.  1.  Early  Christians,  12  ;  George 
Beisley,140;  Henry  II.,  181. 
2.  Francois  de  Sales,  210. 

6.  Manning,  308. 

14.  Vladimir    Monomachus,    96 ; 

Jeanie  Deans,  272. 
PSALM  XLIII.  — Baptism  of  Augustine, 

38  ;  Anthony  of  Navarre,  181. 
v.  3.  Thomas  Chalmers,  311. 
5.  Luther,  123 ;   Jeanie  Deans, 

272. 
PSALM  XLIV. — James  Melville,  265. 

v.23.  Ambrose,  18. 
PSALM  XLV. — Coronation  Services,  3  ; 

Philip  Nicolai,  146. 
v.  8.  Gregory  VII.,  73. 
PSALM  XLVI. — Demetrius  of  the  Don, 
83, 182  ;  Luther  and  Melancthon, 
123 ;  Luther  and  Thomas  Carlyle, 
124;     Luther,   145;     Cromwell, 
251,  259;   Napoleon   III.,   358; 
Havelock,  360. 
v.  1.  Turstin  of  York,  88. 

1-3.  Rev.  George  Walker,  293. 

4.  Bernard       and        Fountains 

Abbey,  89. 

5.  Cathedral      at      Kieff,      39; 

Mediaeval  cosmogony — The 
Holy  City,  99. 

7.  John  Wesley,  304. 

7-11.  Rev.  George  Walker,  293. 
10.  Vincent  of  Lerins,  61 ;  Rich- 
ard Cameron,  278;    James 
Renwick,  285. 
PSALM  XLVIII. — Ruskin,  327. 

v.  13.  Shakespeare,  175. 
PSALM  XLIX. — v.  1.  Gregory  Nazian- 

zen,  38. 

7.  Matthew  Arnold,  323. 
PSALM  L. — v.  16.  Origen,  20. 
PSALM    LI.— Savonarola,    120,    121; 
More,    127,     130,    139;    Lady 
Jane     Grey,     155 ;      Duke     of 
Suffolk,     156;      Egmont,     160; 
Wolfgang    Schuch,     190,    191; 
Jacques  Roger,  226;    Francois 
Benezet,    226 ;     Bunyan,    246 ; 
Wishart,  263. 
v.  1.  Neck- verse,  3. 

1,  2.  William  Carey,  339. 

7.  Langland,  109 ;  Shakespeare, 

174 ;  Henry  Martyn,  343. 
10,  11.  Teresa,  137. 

12.  Thomas  Arnold,  309. 

13.  Savonarola— Michel  Angelo's 

picture,  121. 


PSALM  LI. — t?.  17.  Augustine,  35; 
Langland,  109 ;  Teresa, 
137. 

18.  Henry  V.,  82. 
PSALM    LII.  —  Charles    I.     and    the 

Scottish  Camp,  242. 
PSALM  LV. — Darnley,  164. 
v.  6.     Jerome,    24 ;     Byron,    322 ; 
Browning,  323. 

6.  7.  Benedictines  at  York,  87. 

7.  Turstin  of  York,  88. 

8.  Fountains  Abbey,  89. 
15.  Hooker,  150. 

18.  Benedictine  Rule,  60. 
22.  Allen  Gardiner,  348. 
25.  Burghley,  171. 
PSALM  LVI. — Charles  I.,  242. 
PSALM  LVII. — v.  1.    Allen  Gardiner, 
347 ;     altar     at      Bourget, 
359. 

8.  Robert  Sanderson,  234. 
PSALM  LVIII. — v.  4.  Shakespeare,  173 ; 

Milton,  244. 
PSALM  LX. — v.   1.    John   Houghton, 

133. 
2.  Bishop  Hall,  232. 

11.  John  Howard,  332. 
PSALM.  LXH. — Bishop  Hooper,  138. 

v.  1,  2.  Augustine,  35. 
5.  James  Gardiner,  353. 
5-8.  Allen  Gardiner,  388. 
PSALM    LXIH. — Beza,    186  ;    Chryso- 

stom,  186. 

v.  9.  Thomas  a  Kempis,  102. 
PSALM  LXV.— v.  11.  Robert  Southwell, 
141. 

12.  John  Wesley,  304. 
PSALM  LXVI. — v.  14.  Bunyan,  245, 

18.  Thomas  a  Kempis,  102. 
PSALM  LXVIII. — Antony,  22  ;  Brown- 
ing,    22 ;      Charlemagne,     71 ; 
Savonarola,   119 ;    The   Hugue- 
nots,   182,    185,   193,    199,   200, 
213  ;  Beza,  185,  193  ;  Cromwell, 
258 ;  Moscow,  358. 
v.  1.  National  Anthem,  3;  Cromwell, 
257  ;  Alexander  Peden,  283  ; 
Rev.  George  Walker,  293. 

4.  Shakespeare,  174. 

5.  Shakespeare,  174;  Alexander 

M'Robin,  286 ;  William 
Edwards  (Indian  Mutiny), 
363. 

15.  Shakespeare,  173. 
18.  Bunyan,  248. 
PSALM  LXIX. — Bishop  Hooper,  139. 

v.  12.  Archbishop  Laud,  239. 
PSALM  LXXI. — Mary,  Queen  of  Scots, 
166;  Bishop  Jewel,  176 ;  William 
Wilberforce,  307. 
v.  1.  John  Howard,  332. 


APPENDIX  B 


393 


LXXI. — v.  8.  George  Herbert, 
177;  Jewel,  177;  Robert 
Sanderson,  234 ;  Madame 
de  Noailles,  357. 

10.  Madame  de  Noailles,  357. 
'SALM      LXXII.  —  Athanasius,     29 ; 

Ruskin,  327. 
v.  10,  11.  Christian  Art,  3. 

19.  Thomas  h  Kempis,  101,  102. 
'SALM  Lxxm. — Early  Christians,  12  ; 

Bishop  Hooper,  138. 
t?.  1.  Bishop  Hooper,  138;  Coligny, 
196. 

24.  Jerome,  25,  26. 

25.  Charles  Wesley,  305. 

'SALM  LXXIV. — Vaudois,  218;  Cove- 
nanters, 273. 

'SALM  LXXV.— Ruskin,  327. 

'SALM      LXXVI.  —  English      Nation 

(Spanish  Armada),  168 ;  Robert 

Bruce,    168 ;    Huguenots,    193 ; 

Covenanters,  276  ;  Kingsley,  310. 

v.  2.  John  Endicott,  230. 

11.  Turstin  of  York,  88. 

'SALM  LXXVH.— Bishop  Hooper,  138. 
v.  3.  Fran?ois  de  Sales,  210. 

7-9.  Bunyan,  248. 
'SALM    Lxxvm.—  v.    30.    Turstin  of 

York,  88. 

'SALM  LXXIX.— Huguenot  prisoners, 
192;     The    Jews,     192;      The 
Puritans,     192;      The     French 
Revolution,    192 ,     Carthusians 
of  Woburn,   192;  Jean  Rabec, 
193 ;  James  Melville,  265. 
v.  1.  Jerome,  40. 
1-4.  Bede,  54. 
2.  Parsons,  192 ;  Luisa  de  Car- 

vajal,  192. 
5,  6.  Augustine,  36. 
9,  10.  Crispin  and  Crispinian,  13. 

12.  John  Howard,  332. 

PSALMS  LXXX.-LXXXVIII. — Milton,  243. 
PSALM  LXXX.—  v.  5.  Elizabeth  Barrett 

Browning,  324. 
8.  Theodosius,  79. 

13.  Origen,  20 ;  Shakespeare,  174. 
PSALM      LXXXII.  —  v.      1.      Bishop 

Andrewes,  232. 
PSALM      LXXXIII.  —  Benedict,      63; 

President  Kruger,  363,  367. 
v.  4.  President  Kruger,  366. 
PSALM    LXXXTV.— Benedictine    Rule, 
60;    Isabel  Alison  and  Marion 
Harvie,  286. 
9.1.  Paula,  26. 

1,  2.  Francois  de  Sales,  209. 

2.  Francois  de  Sales,  210. 

11.  Paula,  26 ;  Thomas  Aquinas, 

60. 

12.  Carlyle,  354. 


PSALM  LXTTV. — Cromwell,  251,  259. 

e.  8.  The  Imitatio  Christi,  101. 

9.  Robert  Southwell,  141. 

10.  Langland,  109. 

PSALM  LXXXVI. — v.   7.    David  I.   of 

Scotland,  98. 
13.  Casaubon,  187. 
15.  Tennyson,  323. 
PSALM    LXXXVH.  —  Bishop    Hooper, 

138,  139. 
v.  1.  University  of  Durham,  4. 

2.  Augustine,  38. 

PSALM  LXXXVIH.— v.  7-10.   Henry  of 
Navarre,  197. 

11.  Wordsworth,  322. 

18.  Henry  of  Navarre,  197. 
PSALM    LXXXIX. — v.  1.    Francois    de 
Sales,  210. 

8.  Cromwell,  258. 
47.  Shakespeare,  172. 

PSALM  xc.— Charles  V.,  126;  John 
Hampden,  242;  Newman— Qe- 
rontius,  309  ;  Ruskin,  326. 

PSALM  xci.— Beza,  186;    Casaubon, 

187 ;  Ruskin,  326. 
9. 1.  Henri  de  Rohan,  212, 
4.  Francois  de  Sales,  209. 

9.  Savonarola,  120. 

13.  Augustine,    35  ;     Barbarossa 
and    Pope    Alexander  III., 
77. 
PSALM  xcu. — Casaubon,  187. 

v.  4.  Dante,  105. 
PSALM     xcin.  —  The     Covenanters, 

271. 

v.  2.  Mediaeval  cosmogony,  99. 
PSALM  xcv. — Battle-cry  of  the  Tem- 
plars, 80,  182. 
v.  6.  Christian  Friedrich  Schwartz, 

338. 

PSALM  xcvi. —William  Law,  303. 
PSALM  c.— Shakespeare,  149  ;  Long- 
fellow, 149 ;  William  Kethe,  149 , 
Louis  Bourgeois,  149. 
v.  2.  Edward  Fitzgerald,  324. 
PSALM  ci.—  Death    of   Monica,   18; 
Columba,  50;   Nicephorus   and 
Vladimir      Monomachus,      94 ; 
Ridley,  139;  Bacon,  172, 
v.  6,  7.  Bacon,  172. 

10.  Bacon,  172. 

PSALM  en.  —David  Brainerd,  334. 
v.  6.  Christian  Art,  3. 

6,  7.  Robert  South  well,  142. 
11.  Sundials,  4. 
13.  Fisher,  131. 
17.  Allen  Gardiner,  347. 
PSALM   cin.— Jarnes   Renwick,   285; 
Sanderson,   234  ;  William  Law, 
303 ;  Ruskin,  326. 
v.  1.  David  Livingstone,  351. 


APPENDICES 


PSALM  err. — Mediaeval    cosmogony, 
100;  Humboldt,   315;   Ruskin, 
327. 
v.  3.  Shakespeare,  174. 

5.  Mediaeval  cosmogony,  99. 
26.  Mediaeval  cosmogony,  100. 
28.  Langland,  109. 
29-30.  Lady  Jane  Grey,  153,  154. 
30.  Wilfrid,  64. 
32.  Becket,  77. 

PSALM  cv.—  v.  1.  Baxter's  pulpit,  301. 
PSALM  cvi. — v.  3.  Louis  IX.,  98. 
PSALM  cvn.— Alexander  Duff,  345. 
r.  8.  Cromwell,  252. 
16.    The    Golden    Legend,    112; 

Bunyan,  246. 
20.  Wishart,  263. 
43.  Alexander  Duff,  345. 
PSALM  cvm.—  President  Kruger,  366, 

367. 
PSALM  ox. — v.    6-20.   Bunyan,   249, 

250. 
PSALM  ex. — Luther,  122;  Cromwell, 

255,  258. 

PSALM  cxi.- William  Law,  303. 
v.  4,  5.  Dunstan,  66. 

10.  Charles  Bailly,  140. 
PSALM  cxn.— Ruskin,  326. 
v.  4.  James  Melville,  267 ;  Thomas 

Chalmers,  311. 
Ps  ALMCXIII.— Calvin,  184. 
PSALM  cxiv. — Francis  Borgia,  Duke 
of   Gandia,    61  ;    Dante,    105 ; 
Huguenots  on  the  Loire,   196 ; 
Milton,  243. 
v.  3.  Antoninus  the  Martyr,  79. 

4.  Theodosius,  79. 

PSALM  cxv.— John  Sobieski,  80, 182  ; 
Cardinal  Ximenes,  at  siege  of 
Oran,  83. 

v.l.  Agincourt,  82;   Henry   IV., 
82  ;  Shakespeare,  174  ;  Ber- 
nard Palissy,  184;  William 
Wilberforce,  307. 
t>.  4-8.  Jean  Leclerc,  190. 
4,  5.  Early  Christians,  12. 
8.  Cromwell,  254. 
16.  Burghley,  171. 
PSALM    ex vi.  — "  Quaker  "    Wallace, 

364. 

v.  13.  Bernard,  81. 
PSALM  cxvii. — Cromwell,  257. 
PSALM  cxvin.— Basil  in  Pontus,  23 ; 
Luther,  122;   Charles   V.,  124; 
Huguenots,     193;    Landing    of 
William  of  Orange,   289 ;   Rev. 
George  Walker,  294,  295. 
t>.  6.  Cowper,  319. 
14.  Donald  Cargill,  279  ;  William 

Law,  303  ;  Cowper,  320. 
16-end.  Donald  Cargill,  279. 


PSALM  cxvni.  —  v.  17.  Wyclif,  113; 
Luther,  121,  122;  Cowper, 
320. 

18.  Baldwin,  81  ;  Cowper,  320. 
23,  24.    Cromwell  and  the  Scot- 
tish troops,  256. 

23.  Queen  Elizabeth,  160. 

24,  25.     Huguenots,    battle    of 

Courtras,    199;    d'Aubigne, 
200;      Louis     Rang,      225, 
226;    Jacques   Roger,   226; 
Rochette,  228. 
26.  Charlemagne,  71. 

29.  Cowper,  320. 

PSALM  cxix.  —  Augustine,  38 ; 
"Little  Alphabet  of  the 
Monks,"  etc.,  102;  William 
Wilberforce,  307;  Ruskin,  326, 
327  ;  Henry  Martyn,  342  ;  David 
Livingstone,  349 ;  William 
Edwards  (Indian  Mutiny),  362, 
363. 

v.  6.  David  Brainerd,  336. 
20.  Thomas  Chalmers,  310. 

24.  Ruskin,  328. 

25.  Theodosius,  32;  Nicasius  of 

Rheims,  41 ;  Dante,  105. 
28.  Maine  de  Biran,  316. 

30.  David  Brainerd,  336. 
36.  Pascal,  216. 

45.  David  Brainerd,  336. 
62.  Benedictine  Rule,  60. 
65-70.  Francois  I.,  191. 
71.  Francois  I.,  191. 

96.  A.  P.  Stanley,  310. 

97.  David  Brainerd,  336. 
105.  Shakespeare,  175. 
116.  Benedictine  Rule,  59. 
121.  David  I.  of  Scotland,  98. 
137.  Emperor  Maurice,  14. 
148.  Izaak  Walton,  234. 

158.  Philip    Doddridge   and    CoL 

James  Gardiner,  353. 
164.  Benedictine  Rule,  60. 
175.  Silvia,    mother  of    Gregory, 

57. 

PSALM  cxx.—  v.  4.  Cromwell,  251. 
5.  Benedictines    at    York,    87; 
Bacon,   171;  Hooker,  354; 
Carlyle,  354. 

PSALM      cxxi.  — The      Covenanters, 
•271;    David    Livingstone,    349; 
James  Hannington,351 ;  William 
Edwards  (Indian  Mutiny),  364. 
v.  1.  Dante,  104. 

3.  Coghill  family,  3. 

4.  Francois  de  Sales,  209. 
PSALM  cxxii.— The  Ettrick  Shepherd, 

322. 

v.  1.  Gregory  and  Nonna,  16 ;  The 
Huguenots,  182. 


APPENDIX  B 


395 


PSALM   cxxiv. — Justus    Jonas,    146; 

John  Durie,  265. 
v.  5.  Edward  Irving,  313. 
6.  Huguenot  seal,  183. 
PSALM  cxxvi.— James  Melville,  266. 

v.  1.  Robert  Estienne,  186,  187. 
PSALM  cxxvn. — Pope  Clement  III., 

81. 

v.  1.  Compton  family,  3 ;  City  of 
Edinburgh,  4 ;  Eddy  stone 
Lighthouse,  4 ;  Huguenot 
house  at  Xainton,  189 ; 
Benjamin  Franklin,  231. 

2.  Madame  Guyon,  216. 

3.  Elizabeth  Barrett  Browning, 

324. 

4-6.  Bunyan,  250. 
PSALM    cxxvni.— Henry     II.,     180, 

181. 
PSALM  cxxix. — Henri  Arnaud,  218. 

v.  3.  Alexander  Peden,  282. 
PSALM  cxxx.— Luther,  145,  175  ; 
Hooker,  175 ;  P.  Fletcher,  175  ; 
Diane  de  Poitiers,  181 ;  John 
Wesley,  304 ;  French  Royalists, 
356. 

v.  3.  Beza,  186  ;  Bunyan,  248. 
PSALM    cxxxii.  —  v.  15.      Gall,    48; 
Anselm,  75. 

18.  Paulinus,  18. 

19.  Shilling  of  Edward  VI.,  4. 
PSALM  cxxxm. — v.  1.  Langland,  109. 
PSALM    cxxxv. — David   Livingstone, 

349. 

v.  7.  Mediaeval  cosmogony,  100. 
PSALM      cxxxvi. — Athanasius,      30; 

Milton,  243. 
PSALM    cxxxvu. — Vincent  de  Paul, 

206  ;  Camoens,  207. 
«.  4.  Jerome,  25  ;  John  II.,  206. 
8.     Calvin,    228;     Sir    Robert 
Hamilton,  277. 


PSALM  cxxxrx.— O.H.  German  frag- 
ment of  9th  century,  45;   Lin- 
naeus,   45,    46;    Thomson,    46; 
Ruskin,  326. 
v.  6.  More,  129. 

24.  Port  Royalists,  215. 
PSALM  CXLI.— Early  Christians,  12. 

v.  2.  Shakespeare,  173. 
PSALM  CXLH. — Francis  of  Assisi,  92. 
PSALM  CXLTII. — v.  8.  Savonarola,  118. 
PSALM  CXLIV. — Bernard,  81. 
v.  1.  Philip  Jones,  170. 

4.  Sundials,  4. 

PSALM  CXLV.— Paul  Gerhardt,  146; 
Milton,  244 ;  James  Gardiner, 
353. 

v.  1.  William  Law,  303. 
3.  Augustine,  33. 
9.  Langland,  108. 
10.  William  Carey,  338. 
13.  Mosque  at  Damascus,  39. 

17.  John  Howard,  332. 
PSALM  CXLVI. — William  Law,  303. 

v.  2.  Strafford,  238. 

3.  Ordericus  Vitalis,  94. 
PSALM  CXLVH.— William  Law,  803. 
v.  5.  Augustine,  33. 

9.  Shakespeare,  173. 

18.  Victory  over  Spanish  Armada, 

168.      • 

PSALM  cxLvm. — Francis  of  Assisi— 
Canticle  of  the  Sun,  91 ;  New- 
man— Gerontius,  308. 
v.  4.  Mediaeval  cosmogony,  100. 
8.  Mediaeval    cosmogony,    100 ; 

Alexander  Peden,  280. 
PSALM     CXLIX. — Thomas     Miintzer, 

151 ;  Caspar  Schopp,  151. 
PSALM  CL. — Benedictine  Rule — Bell- 
casting,  60  ;   Newman  —  Gtron- 
tius,  308. 
v.  6.  John  VIIL,  44. 


INDEX 


AVELARD  and  HeloTse,  93;  account 

of    [M'Cabe,     chap,    xi.],    96-98; 

the  "Historia  Calamitatum,"  96; 

letters  quoted,  97 
Aere»  Baldwin  dies  at,  81 
Adamnanus,  his  "  Life  of  Columba  " 

cited  [Fowler,  134],  51,  52 
Addison,    Joseph,  8 ;     quoted,    319 ; 

his  paraphrases  of  Psalms  xxiii. 

and  xix.,  319 
Adelme,  abbot  of  Chaise-Dieu,  at  the 

passage  of  the  Tagus,  82 
MUa.,  king  of  Northumbria,  57 
Mired,  of  Rievaulx,  cited  [Pinkerton, 

ii.  281-283],  98 
Agincourt,  battle  of,  82 
Agnes,  St,  mosaics  at  Ravenna,  6 
Aidan,  bishop  of  Lindisfarne,  death 

of  [Montalembert,  iv.  127,  134**.], 

il 

Aignan,  St,  saves  Orleans,  41 
Aigues  Mortes,  St  Louis  at  [Martin, 

iv.  326],  98 ;    Vincent  de  Paul  at 

[Wilson,  22],  206 ;   the  Tour  Con- 
stance at,  219 
Ainsworth,   Henry,  of  Amsterdam, 

his  version  of  the  Psalms,  230 
Airs-moss,  278 
Aix-la-Chapelle,  capitulary  of  [Baluze, 

L,  coL  714],  46;   death  of  Charle- 
magne at  [Guettee,  iii,  238],  71 
Alais,    treaty    of,     214,    217;     the 

Camisards    at    [Peyrat,    i.    350], 

222 
Alaric,  sack  of  Rome  by  [Gibbon, 

chap.  XXXL],  40,  41 
Alaric  II.,  killed  by  Clovis  at  Vougle* 

[Martin,  i.  447],  69 
Alba,  St  Teresa  dies  at  [Coleridge, 

iiL  369],  137 
Alberic,  prior  of  Molesme  [ "  Life  of 

Stephen  Harding,"  Newman,  vol. 

L],  85 
d'Albret,  Jeanne,  mother  of  Henry 

of  Navarre,  201 

Alen^on,  Henry  of  Navarre  at,  198 
Alexander  III. ,  Pope,  and  Barbarossa, 

77,78 

397 


Alexandria,  Cyril,  bishop  of,  19; 
return  of  Athanasius  to,  29 

Alfonso  the  Valiant,  of  Castile,  82 

Alfred,  King,  and  St  Neot  ["Life  of  St 
Neot,"  Newman,  iii.  133],  65 

Alison,  Isabel,  271;  her  death 
[  Wodrow,  book  iii. ,  chap.  5  ;  vol. 
iii.,  277;  "  Cloud  of  Witnesses,"  117 
««?.],  286 

Alnwick,  James  Melville  at,  266 

"  Alphabet  of  the  Monks  "  [Kettle- 
well,  "Brothers,"  ii.  119-124;  see 
Appendix  A,  chap,  iv.],  102 

••  Alte  fage,"  220 

Alva,  Duke  of,  and  St  Teresa 
[Cunninghame  Graham,  ii.  259], 
136  ;  and  Egmont,  157 ;  and  the 
Huguenots,  195 

Amasea,  Theodore  of,  13 

Ambrose,  St,  10,  29  ;  quoted  [Migne, 
xiv.  925,  223],  14;  quoted  by 
Casaubon,  187;  introduces  anti- 

?honal  chanting  [Baunard,  324  *«</.] . 
8;  death  of  [Bright's  "  History," 
223  ;  Baunard,  594],  18  ;  and  Theo- 
dosius  [Bright's  ••  Fathers,"  L  519 ; 
Baunard,  448-456],  32 ;  and  Augus- 
tine, 17,  35,  38 ;  on  the  Duties  of 
the  Clergy,  38 

American    Constitution,    the,     Ben- 
jamin Franklin  on,  quoted  [Works, 
ed.  Sparks,  v.  155J,  231,  232 
Amiens,  Martin  of  Tours  at,  27 
Andrewes,  Lancelot,  bishop,  8, 9, 232 
Angers,  Jean  Rabec  burned  at,  193 
Angouleme,  Place  du  Murier  at,  188 
Angoumois,    the    (**  Huguenotes "), 

Anne  Boleyn,  her  marriage,  128 

Annecy,  Francois  de  Sales  born  at, 
208 

Anselm,  Archbishop,  account  of 
[Church;  Montalembert,  vi.],  74, 
75;  his  "Cur  Deus  Homo?" 
[Montalembert,  vi.  170],  75 

Anthem,  the  National,  3 

Anthony,  king  of  Navarre,  his  Psalm 
[Douen,  i.  709],  181 


398 


INDEX 


Antiphonal  chanting,  see  Ambrose 
Antoninus,  of  Placentia,  the  Martyr, 
cited  [see  Appendix  A,  chap,  iii.], 
79 

Antony,  St,  account  of  [Newman's 
"  Historical  Sketches,"  ii.  99-102  ; 
Baring -Gould,  January  17th ; 
Alban  Butler,  January  17th], 
20-22 ;  Life  of,  by  Athanasius 
[Migne,  Ixxiii.  126],  23;  and 
Augustine,  36 

Antrim's  regiment  [Walker],  289 
*'  Apologetical     Declaration,     The," 

287 

Aquileia,  Jerome  at,  24 
Aquinas,  St  Thomas,  6v) 
Arbroath,  sundial  at,  4 
Ardusson,  the  river,  96 
Argenteuil,  Heloise  at,  96 
Armada,   the,    motto    of,    80,    167; 

account  of  [Froude,  xii.],  166,  168 
Armagnac,   valet  to  Henry  of  Na- 
varre, 197 
Arnaud,  Henri  [Monastier,  ii.    126], 

218 
Arnauld,  Antoine,  learns  the  Psalms 

by  heart,  215 

Arnauld,     Mere      Angelique      [see 
Appendix  A,  chap.  viii. ,  "Memoires 
pour  servir,"  etc. ;  "  Histoire  des 
Persecutions,"  etc.],  214,  215 
Arnold,  Matthew,  quoted,  323 
Arnold,  Thomas,  death  of  [Stanley, 

chap.  x.  ],  309 

d'Arques,  Chateau,  battle  at,  200 
Arundel,    Philip,    earl    of,    in    the 

Tower  [Bay ley,  i.  135],  140 
Arundel,  Earl  of,  at  Strafford's  trial 

[Baillie],  236 

Ash,  Thomas,  on  siege  of  London- 
derry, quoted  [Walker,  ed.  Dwyer, 
210],  295 

Assisi,  see  Francis 
Athanasius,  St,  10;  at  Rome 
[Bright's  "Fathers,"  i.  169,  180; 
Thierry,  i.  22,  23],  23 ;  returns  to 
Alexandria  [Bright's  "  Fathers,"  i. 
199;  Stanley's  "  Eastern  Church," 
274;  Greg.  Naz.  orat,  xxi.],  29; 
at  church  of  St  Theonas  [Bright's 
«•  Fathers,"  i.  240 ;  "  History,"  76, 
77;  Stanley's  "Eastern  Church," 
283],  29,  30 
Attila,  41 

d'Aubigne",  squire  to  Henry  of 
Navarre,  197;  cited  [Livre  17, 
cap.  xx.],  198;  death  of  [Puaux, 
v.  224 ;  Noailles,  i.  66],  200 
Augustine,  St,  of  Canterbury  [Bede, 
i.  25 ;  Montalembert,  iii.  186  wgr.], 
56,58 


Augustine,  St,  of  Hippo,  8,  9, 10.  12; 

his  baptism  [Conf.,  ix.  6],  17,  37, 

38 ;    his    death    [Possidius,   xxi. ; 

Bright's  "Fathers,"  ii.    306],   18; 

account  of  his  conversion,  33-38 ; 

his  "  City  of  God,"  38,  40 
Avila,  St  Teresa  born  at  [Coleridge, 

i.  4],  136 
Avranches,  Henry  II.  at,  76 

BACON,  Francis,  7,  10;  his  "Es- 
says "  quoted,  171 ;  his  "  Certaine 
Psalms,"  172,  177 

Baillie  of  Jerviswood,  death  of 
[Wodrow,  iv.  110  seg.],  284 

Bailly,  Charles,  inscription  in  the 
Tower  [Bayley,  i.  149],  140 

Baithen  and  Columba,  51 

Baker,  Major,  at  siege  of  London- 
derry [Walker,  April  19th],  290 

Baldwin,  Archbishop,  at  Crusades 
[Epist  Cant,  cccxlvi.  ;  Vinisauf, 
i.  66 ;  Hook,  ii.  572],  81,  82 

Bangor  [Montalembert,  ii  397],  55 

Bangor  Iltyd  [ibid.],  55 

Barbarossa  and  Alexander  III., 
77,  78 

"  Barebones  Parliament,  The,"  Crom- 
well and  [Carlyle,  iii.  201,  225, 
227],  258 

Barlow,  Joel,  versifier  of  the  Psalms, 
231 

Bartholomew,  St,  massacre  of 
[Crottet,  322],  197,  264 

Basil,  St,  10,  29 ;  his  death  [Bright's 
"Fathers,"  i.  393;  "History," 
163],  18;  in  Pontus  [ibid.,  i.  368; 
"History,"  88;  Basil  Ep.,  19],  22, 
23;  and  Emperor  Valens  [ibid., 
i.  373;  Greg.  Naz.  orat,  xx., 
xliii.],  31 

Basing  House,  siege  of  [Carlyle, 
"  Cromwell,"  i.  209-213],  252,  253 

Basle,  Council  of,  117 

Bass  Rock,  the,  prisoners  on,  271, 
280 

Baxter,  Richard,  account  of  [Orme], 
301,  302,  339 

Bay  Tsalm  Book,  the,  230,  333 

Bayles,  the  martyr  [Southwell,  ed. 
Grosart,  p.  52],  141 

Beaton,  Cardinal,  and  George 
Buchanan,  262 

Beauchamp  family,  the,  motto  of, 
3 

Bee,  Anselm  at,  74 

Becket,  Thomas  a,  murder  of 
[Stanley,  Canterbury,  122  seq.],  76 

Bede,  the  Venerable,  10,  54;  ac- 
count of  [Montalembert,  iv.  239 
seq.],  63 


INDEX 


399 


Bedfordshire,     John      Howard      in 

[Memoirs,  124],  331 
Beisley,  George,  priest,  in  the  Tower, 

140 
Bellamy,     Anne,     betrays     Robert 

Southwell    [Poems,    ed.    Grosart, 

liii],  141 
Bellot,  Cavalier,  besieged  at  [Peyrat, 

i.  451],  222 
Bemerton,  George  Herbert  at,  176, 

177 
Benedict  Biscop,  account  of  [Mon- 

talembert,  iv.  172-186],  62,  63 
Benedict,    St,     of    Nursia,    founds 

Monte     Cassino     (Montalembert, 

i.  400],  42,  43;  Rule  of,  see  Rul* 
Benezet,  Francois,  his    death  [Coq- 

uerel,  ii.  50;  Peyrat,  ii.  420],  226 
Benignus  and  St  Patrick,  49 
Bernard,  St,  10;   preaches  Crusade, 

81;  enters  Citeaux  [Newman,  ••  Life 

of  Stephen  Harding  "],  86 ;   abbot 

of  Clairvaux  [ibid.],  86;  and  Foun- 
tains  Abbey    [Narratio,    etc.,    p. 

35],  89 
Berwick,  death  of  James  Melville  at 

[Diary,  xxviii.  seq.],  266 
Beza,  Theodore,  account  of,  185, 186  ; 

his  translation  of  the  Psalms,  147  ; 

his    translation    of    the     Psalms 

auoted,    193 ;    his    translation    of 

the  Psalms  prohibited,  205 
Bible  Society,  the,  founded,  330 
Biran,  Maine  de,  see  Maine 
"  Bishops'  Bible,  The,"  145 
"  Bishops'  Drag  Net,  The,"  270 
Black  Prince,  the,  coins  of,  4 
"  Black  Tom  Tyrant "  (Strafford),  235 
Blackader,  John,  quoted,  269 
Blackmore,  Sir  Richard,  his  version 

of  the  Psalms,  8 

Blantyre,  cotton  factory  at,  Living- 
stone in,  349 
Blednoch,  the   (Wigtown    martyrs), 

287,  288 
Blesilla,  daughter  of  Paula  [Thierry, 

i.    32,    159-160],    24;    her    death 

[Thierry,  i.  219],  25 
Boer  War,  the,  365-368 
Bbhme,  Jacob,  337 
Bokhara,  Conolly  and  Stoddart  at 

[Grover],  359 
Bordeaux    Pilgrim,    the  (Itinerary), 

[Thierry,  i.  37],  24,  78 
Borgia,   Francis,  Duke    of  Gandia 

[Abrege"  de  sa  vie,  29],  61 
Borgia,   Roderigo   (Pope  Alexander 

VI.),  and  Savonarola  [Villari,  i. 

152,  and  pcu*im],  119 
Boswell  quotes   Archbishop  Seeker 

[ed.  Hul,  L  33],  320 


Bothwell,  Earl,  and  Wishart  [Knox, 

book  i.],  263 
Bothwell  Bridge,  battle  of  [Wodrow, 

iii.  106,  107],  277 
Bouges  Mountain,  220 
Bourgeois,  Louis,  sets  the  Psalms  to 

music,  147,  149 
Bourget,  Psalter  found  at,  359 
Boussac,  legendary  treasure  at,  110 
Boyne,  the,  battle  of,  289 
Brady,  Nicholas,  and  Nahum  Tate, 

148 
Brainerd,  David  ["Life,  Remains,  and 

Letters,"  ed.   Jonathan  Edwards, 

1845,   Aberdeen],   231,    340,    349; 

his  death  [tY;iU  J,  334 ;  his  journal 

["  Diary  of  David    Brainerd,"  2 

vols.,  London,  1902],  334-336 
Brantome, cited,  on  Cond£  [Discours, 

Ixxx.  1],  195;  quoted,  on  Coligny 

fDiscours,    Ixxix.],    197;    at   La 

Rochelle,  199 

Breagh,  plain  of,  St  Patrick  at,  48 
Breda,  Charles  II.  at,  254 
Bregenz,    Columban    and    Gall    at 

[Montalembert,  ii.  272],  47 
Brest,  John   Howard  at  [Memoirs, 

19],  331 

Bretigny,  the  peace  of,  198 
Britain,  invasion  of  [Bede],  54  ;  early 

colleges  in  [Montalembert,  iii.  146, 

152],  55 ;  described  by  Procopius, 

56  ;  the  Danes  in,  65 
Brittany  and  La  Vendee,  insurrec- 
tion   in     [Les    Chouans,   ii.    135 

seq.},  355,  356 
Bnttia,    island    of,    described     by 

Procopius,  56 
Browne,  Ezekiei,  Hampden  dies  in 

his  house,  242 
Browning,  Elizabeth  Barrett,  quoted, 

324 
Browning,  Micaiah,  captain  of  The 

Mountjoy  [Walker,  July  27th],  295, 

296 
Browning,  Robert,  his   "Ring  and 

the     Book "     quoted,     22,     323 ; 

"  Pambo "  quoted,  22 ;  "Strafford  " 

quoted,  238 

Bruce,  of  Earlshall,  and    the  Cove- 
nanters at  Airs-moss  [Knox,  book 

iii.,  chap.  4],  278 
Bruce,     Robert,    the     preacher,    at 

Edinburgh,  168 
Brussels,  Egmont  at,  157 
Bryant,  William  Culien,  versifier  of 

the  Psalms,  231 
Bridges  on    the  119th   Psalm,  362, 

368 
Brydges,  Sir    Jahn,    Lieut,    of  the 

Tower,  154,  155 


400 


INDEX 


Brydon,     Dr,    survivor    at    Cabul, 

359 
Buchanan,  George,  his  Latin  version 

of  the  Psalms,  262 
Buckingham,  George   Villiers,  first 

Duke  of,  driven  from  Rhe,  213; 

Bacon's     advice    to     [Spedding, 

"Life    and     Letters,"    vi.     24], 

172 
Bullinger,  Heinrich,  Bishop  Hooper 

and,  137 
Bunyan,  John,  8,  9,  334,  339;    his 

"  Grace     Abounding,"    245  -  250, 

334 
Burghley,  William  Cecil,  Lord,  10, 

171 

Burns,  Robert,  7 

Butchers'  Company,  the,  motto  of,  4 
Byron,  Lord,  and  the  Psalms,  321, 


CABUL,  destruction  of  British  force 

at,  359 
Cadoc  the  Wise,  abbot  of  Llancarvan 

[Montalembert,  li.  406],  56 
Calvin,  John,  account  of,  184,  185 
•*  Calypso's  Island,"  Basil's  retreat  in 

Pontus,  23 
Cameron,  Michael  [Wodrow,  iii.  212] 

278 
Cameron,  Richard  [Wodrow,  iii.  212, 

220],  278 

Cameronian  Regiment,  the,  368 
Cameronians,    the,    270,    279,    283, 

285,  287 

Camisards,  the,  222-224 
Camoens,  Luiz  de,  8 ;  his  exile,  206, 

207 ;  "  The  Lusiad  "  quoted,  207 
Camus,  Bishop,  his  "  Esprit  de  St 

Fran?ois  de  Sales,"  208 
Canossa,  Henry  IV.  at  [Bowden,  ii. 

174  ;  Montalembert,  v.  364]  73 
Canterbury,      Augustine     of,     see 

Augustine;    Benedict    Biscop    at, 

62;     Wilfrid    at,    63;     Dunstan, 

archbishop  of,  66;  Anselm,  arch- 
bishop of,  74  ;  murder  of  Becket, 

76;    penance  of   Henry  II.,  76; 

pilgrimages  to,  80 
Capitulary    of   Aix-la-Chapelle,   see 

Aix-la-Chapelle 
Carey,  William,  340,  346,  349 ;   sails 

for  India,  333;   account  of,  337- 

339 ;  quoted,  336 
Cargill,   Donald,   271,  284;  account 

of   [Wodrow,  book  iii. ,  chap.  4 ; 

"  Six  Saints,"  vol.  it  ;  "  Cloud  of 

Witnesses,"  6  wgr.l,  279;    quoted 

["Six  Saints,"  ii.  8],  268 
Carlyle,  Alexander,  on  Col.  Gardiner 

[Autobiography,  p.  16],  352 


Carlyle,  Thomas,  8,  311 ;  quoted, 
329,  354 ;  on  Sir  William  Hamil- 
ton, 317;  and  Ruskin,  325,  326; 
his  "  Luther's  Psalm  "  [Critical  and 
Misc.  Essays,  iii.],  124 

Carlyle,  Jane  Welsh,  see  Welsh 

Caroline,  Queen,  307 

Carrack,  Peden  preaches  at  ["Six 
Saints,"  i.  90],  283 

Carrichon,  M.,  and  Madame  de 
Noailles,  357 

Carrickfergus,  Peden's  escape  from, 
280 

Carstairs,  William,  at  Torbay  [Life, 


p.  34],  289 
^arvajal, 


Carvajal,    Luisa    de,  quoted    [Life, 

Lady  G.  Fullerton,  p.  254],  192 
Casaubon,  Isaac,  10 ;   story  of  [M. 

Pattison,  335],  187 
Caswall,  Edward,  134 
Cataldus   of  Tarentum,   [Montalem- 
bert, iii.  157],  44 
"Cathac,  The,"  Columba's   Psalter 

[Stubbs,  261,  262],  50 
Catherine    of  Arragon,  the  divorce, 

128,    132;    Forest,    her    confessor 

[Lingard,  v.     107  n. ;    "Faithful 

unto_Death,"l  132 
Catherine    de    Medicis    [Douen,    i 

709],  10,  181,  194,  197 
Caussade,    Rochette     captured    at 

227 
Cavalier,  Jean,  account  of  [Peyrat, 

i.  350,  451 ;  ii.  85],  222,  223 
Cawnpore,  Henry  Martyn  at,  341 
Caxton,    "The     Golden     Legend'" 

quoted,  110-112 
Certosa,  the,  Francis  I.  at  the  church 

of,  191 
Cervantes,  8 
Cesarea,  death  of  Basil  at  [Bright's 

"Fathers,"    i.     393;     "History," 

163],    18;    Basil  and  Valens    at, 

31 

Cesarius,  bishop   of  Aries    [Monta- 
lembert, i.  353],  42 
Cevenols,  the,  81,  219-222 
Chablais,  Francois  de  Sales  at,  209 
Chaise-Dieu,  Benedictine  abbey  of, 

82 
Chalcedon,  death  of  Emperor  Maurice 

at,  13 

Chalcis,  desert  of,  Jerome  in,  25 
Chalgrove    Field,    death    of    John 

Hampden  at,  241,  242 
Chalmers,  Thomas,  account  of  [see 

Appendix  A,  chap,  xi.],  310,  311; 

preaches  at    Edinburgh    [Hanna, 

iv.  309,  341],  311 
Chantal,  Madame  de,  203,  208 
Charenton,  Casaubon  at,  187 


401 


Charlemagne,  10 ;  at  Rome  [Martin, 

ii.  262,  263,  328],  70,  71 ;  death  of 

[Martin,  ii.  364 ;  Guette'e,  iii.  238], 

71,72 
Charles  I.,  sanctions  the  Psalter,  149, 

232;  and   Strafford,   237,  238;  at 

Newark,  242;  and  Scottish  Kirk, 

267 
Charles  II.,  and  Scottish  Kirk,  254; 

accession  of,  and  Cargill,  268 
Charles  V.,  of  Spain.  10,  117;  and 

Marot,  124 ;  abdication  and  death 

[Stirling-Maxwell],  125,  126 
Charles  IX.  of  France.  197 
Charlton,  Margaret,  wife  of  Richard 

Baxter  [Orme,  i.  296],  302 
Charterhouse,  the,   monks    of,  exe- 
cuted [Froude,   ii.  342-362],   132, 

133 

Chaucer  quoted,  107 
Chayla,    Francois    du,    account    of 

[Peyrat,  i.  287  ««y.],  220,  221 
Cherson,  see  Kherson 
Choczin,  battle  of,  182 
«•  Christian  Year,  The,"  307,  308 
Chiysostom,  St  John,  his  favourite 

Psalm,  186 
Cistercians,  the,  founded  by  Stephen 

Harding   [Life,  in  Newman,   vol. 

i.],  84;  in  England  [ibid.,  vol.  v. 

108,167  n.],  86 
Citeaux,  foundation    of    [Newman, 

vol.  i.],  85 
Clain  river,  27 
Clairvaux,  monastery  of  [Newman, 

vol.  i.],  86,  89 
Claverhouse    at    Drumclog     [Wod- 

row,  iii.  69],  271 
Clement  of  Alexandria,  "Stromata" 

quoted,  14 

Clement  III.,  Pope,  and  Crusades,  81 
Clement    VII.,    Pope,    and    Henry 

VIII.  [Lingard,  v.  2, 13, 19-20],  128 
Clifford,  Lord,  99 
Clovis,  his  baptism,  68 ;  at  battle  of 

Vougle  [Martin,  i.  447],  69 
Cluni,  Hugh  of  [Vita,  apud  Migne, 

clix.  867],  61 
Clyde,  the,  apparition  on  the  banks 

of  ["  Six  Saints,"  i.  331  271 
Cobbett,  William,  and  Wilberforce, 

["Life  of  Wilberforce,"  v.  68],  307 
Coburg,  Luther  at,  16,  122 
Cod,     Cape,     landing    of     Pilgrim 

Fathers  at,  230 

Coghill  family,  the,  motto  of,  3 
Coins,  of  Black   Prince,  of  Edward 

III.,  of  Edward  VI.,  4;  struck  to 

commemorate  defeat  of  Armada, 

168 
Coligny,  Audelot  de,  194 


Coligny,   Gaspard    de,    Admiral    of 

France,  182,  193,  201;  account  of 

[Brant 'me,  iii.],  194-197 
Co'.me-kili,  52 
Coiumba,  St,  10;  account  of  [Mon- 

talerabert,    iii.     1-133;     Life,    by 

Adamnan,  III.  xxiii ;  and  Reeve's 

Introduction,  xxxiii.],  49-52 
Columban,  St,  44  ;  account  of  [Mon- 

talerabert,  ii.  272,  etc.  ;  Life,  apud 

Migne,  Ixxxvii.,  1014],  46,  47 
Columbus,  Christopher,  10,  117;  ac- 
count of,    126,  127;   his  habitual 

signature  TMarkham,  295  ;  Irving, 

iv.  437],  127 
Commet,  M.    de,  Vincent  de  Paul 

writes  to,  206 

Compostella,  pilgrimages  to,  80 
Compton  family,  the  motto  of,  3 
Conde,  Prince  de,  182,  194,  195,  196, 

197 
Conolly,    Capt.    Arthur,    death    of, 

at     Bokhara     [Kaye's     *'  Indian 

Officers,"  189,  144],  359 
Constance,  Council  of,  116, 117 
Constance,  Tour,  at  Aigues  Mortes, 

219 
Constantius,  Emperor,  and  Athana- 

sius,  29 
Corneille,  translates  the  Psalter,  204  ; 

his  "Heraclius,"  14 
Coronation  offices,  the,  based  on  the 

Psalms,  3 

Corsairs,  Barbary,  205,  206 
Cotton,    Mr,  of    Boston,   Cromwell 

writes  to  [Carlyle,  iii.  172-3],  257 
Cotton,  Dr,  his  asylum,  Cowper  at, 

327 
Council,  of  Basle,  117;  of  Constance, 

116,  117  ;  of  Milan,  29  ;  of  Toledo 

[Hefele,  iv.  471],  46 ;  of  Toulouse, 

144 
Courtras,  battle  of  [Douen,  i.   11], 

199 
Cousin,  Victor,  on  Maine  de  Biran, 

315 
Covenant,  The  National,  signed  at 

Edinburgh  [Wodrow,  i.],  267 
Covenant,  The  Solemn  League  and, 

267  ;  prohibited  [Wodrow,  i.  423], 

268 

Covenanters,  the,  and   Boers    com- 
pared, 365-368 
Coverdale,  Miles,  his  version  of  the 

Psalter,  145 
Cowper,  William  [see  Appendix  A], 

7;     and    Madame    Guyon,    216; 

account      of,      319-320;      quoted 

[Southey's  "Life,"  chap,  vi.],  320 
Craig,  John,  versifier  of  the  Psalms, 

148,  150 

2c 


402 


INDEX 


Craigmad,     apparition     at     ['*  Six 

Saints,"  i.  35],  271 
Cranmer,    Thomas,    128;    and    the 

Psalter,  145 
Crashaw,  Richard,  7 
Crespin,  his  martyrology,  190 
Crewe,  Mrs,  afterwards   Lady,  and 

Wilberforce  TLife,  i.  47,  48,  etc.], 

306 
Crispin,  and  Crispinian,  SS.  f  Surius, 

Alban  Butler,  Baring-Gould,  Octo- 
ber 25th;  Hasted's  Kent,  iii.  514], 

12,  13 
Cromwell,    Oliver,    81;    account    of 

[Carlyle],  250-60 
Cromwell,  Thomas,  death  of,  139 
Cross,  "  Invention  "  of  the,  see  Helena 
"  Crossing  the  Bar,"  279 
Cruithnechan,  priest,   and  Columba 

[Reeve's      "  Adamnan,"      Introd., 

xxxiii.],  50 
Crusades,  the,  80-82 
Cuthbert,  St,  account  of  [Montalem- 

bert,     iv.      127-155;     Bede,     cap. 

xxxvii.-xl.],  10,  53, 54;  his  "beads" 

["  Marmion,"  II.  xvi.  ],  53 
Cyran,     St,    suspected    of    heresy, 

215 
Cyril,     of     Alexandria,     death     of 

[Bright's      "Fathers,"     ii.      424; 

••  History,  "370],  18,  19 
Cyril,  see  Methodius 

DALZELL,  General,  at  Rullion  Green, 
271,  272 

Damascus,  mosque  at,  inscription  on, 
39 

Damour,  Pastor,  at  Chateau  d'Arques, 
200 

Dante,  8 ;  on  Anselm  ["  Paradise,"  xii. 
137],  74;  "Divina  Commedia" 
quoted,  43,  103-106;  on  the  Peni- 
tential Psalms,  103 

Darnley,  Earl  of,  death  of  [Froude, 
via.,  ix.],  161-165 

Dartmouth,  The,  at  siege  of  Lon- 
donderry [Walker,  Juiy  30th ;  ed. 
Dwyer,  211],  295 

David,  King,  his  harp,  1 ;  Henry  IV. 
compared  with  him,  204 

David  I.  of  Scotland,  93 ;  his  death, 
[Pinkerton,  ii.  281-3],  98 

Daye,  John,  publishes  complete  ver- 
sion of  the  Psalter,  148 

Deans,  Jeannie  ("Heart  of  Mid- 
lothian"), 272 

"  Declaration,  The  Sanquhar  "  [  Wod- 
row,  iii.  212  n.]t  278,  279 

Defensor,  Bishop  [Baring -Gould, 
Martin,  November  llth,  p.  246], 
28 


Demetrius    of    the    Don    [Stanley, 

"  Eastern  Church,"  402  seg. ;  Karam- 

sin,  iv.  377  and  v.  78-86],  83 
Deo    Gratias,   bishop    of    Carthage 

[Gibbon,  chap,  xxxvi.],  42 
Derry      (Londonderry),      siege      of 

[Walker,  see  Appendix  A,   chap. 

x.],   289-296;    William  and   Mary 

proclaimed    at     [Walker,     March 

2(/th],  290 
Desportes,     Abb£,     translates     the 

Psalter,  204 
Dessen   Island,   Alexander  Duff  at, 

345 
Diane  de  Poitiers    [Douen,   i.   709; 

Bordier,  ix.],  181 
Diarmid,  King,  and  Columba,  50 
Diarmid,  attendant  of  Columba,  52 
Die,  Louis  Rang  dies  at,  225 
Dieppe,  Chateau  d'Arques  at,  200 
Diocletian,  persecution  of,  A.D.  288, 

12 

Dnieper,  the,  94 
Doddridge,   Philip,    cited,    on    Col. 

Gardiner,  352,  353 
Domenico,  Fra,  and  Savonarola,  119 
Donatus,  of  Fiesole,  44 
Donskoi,  monastery,  83 
Doon  Hill,  at  Dunbar,  256 
Douglas,    Capt.     Andrew,     of     The 

Phcenix  [Walker,  July  30th],  295 
Dragonnades,   the,  217 
Druids,  the,  and  St  Patrick,  48,  49 
Drumclog,    271,   368;    account    of, 

276 
Drummond  of  Hawthornden,  quoted 

[ii.  21],  110 

"  Drunken  Parliament,  The,"  268 
Dudley,  Lady  Jane,  account  of,  152- 

156 
Dudley,   Lord  Guildford,  death  of, 

154 
Duff,  Alexander,  10,  339  ;  account  of, 

344,   346;   (Indian    Mutiny),   364; 

quoted,  361 
Dunbar,  Wilfrid  imprisoned  at,  64; 

battle  of  [Carlyle,  iii.  28  seq.~\,  255- 

257 

Dunottar,  prisoners  at,  272 
Dunstan,    St,    10,   62;    account   of, 

[Lingard,  "A.S.  Church,"  ii.  267, 

etc.;  Vita,  ed.  Stubbs,  61,  355],  66 
Durham  university,  motto  of,  4 
Durie,  John,  account  of  [MelvuTs 

Diary,  134],  265,  266 
Dwight,  Timothy,   versifier    of  the 

Psalms,  231 

EDDYSTONE  LIGHTHOUSE,  the,  inscrip- 
tion in  [Smeaton,  p.  183],  4 
Edgar,  King,  66 


INDEX 


403 


Edinburgh,  motto  of,  4 ;  John  Knox 

dies  at,  264 ;  John  Dune  at,  265 ; 

National  Covenant  signed  at,  267  ; 

Cargill  executed  at,  279 ;  Renwick 

executed  at,  285 
Edward  VI.  and  Sterahold,  147 
Edwards,  William,  his  escape,  361- 

364 ;  his  Diary  quoted,  363-364 
it,  Count  of,  his  trial  and  death 

'Motley,  part  iii.,  i.  and  it],  157- 

L60;  his  letter  to  Philip  II.  NU&< 

chap,  ii.],   158,  159 
Eleyn,    Mistress,    and    Lady    Jane 

Grey,  155 
Eliot,   John,   missionary,   231,    337, 

339  ;  account  of,  333,  334 
Elizabeth,   Queen,  7;  the  "Geneva 

iigs,"  148 ;  on  death  of  Mary,  160 ; 

her  version  of  Psalm  xiv.  quoted, 

161 
Elwy    Monastery    founded  [Monta- 

lembert,  ii.  396],  54,  55 
Ely,  Cromwell  at  [Carlyle,  i.  81]  251 
Endicott,  John,  Pilgrim  Father,  230 
"Enfants     de      Dieu,"      Ceve*nols 

[Peyrat,  i.  271,  314],  219 
Epiphanius,  bishop  of  Pa  via,  42 
Episcopacy  in  Scotland,  267  seq. 
Erasmus,      80,      117 ;     Luther     on 

["Table-talk,"  dclxxi.,    dclxxii.], 

126;    on  Luther    [Epist    vi.    41, 

127;    and    Fisher    [Bridgett,    98"; 

Erasm.  Ep.,  109],  130 
Estramadura,  Charles  V.  in,  125 
Essex,  Earl  of,  his  death,  171 
Estienne,  Robert,  and  the  Sorbonne 

[Douen,  i.  13],  186 
Ethandun,  battle  of,  65 
Ethelred,  coronation  of,  66 
Ettrick  Shepherd,  the,  see  Hogg 
Etzel  (Attila)r  41 
Euodius,  friend  of  Augustine,  17 
Eustochium  [Thierry,  St  Jerome,  i. 

32,  159,  160],  14,  24  ;  at  Bethlehem 

[ibid.,  I  298,  etc.],  25,  26;  death 

of  [«7>»U,ii.  240],  27 
Exhibition  of  1851,  the,  motto  of,  4 

FAGE,  Durand,  quoted  [see  Douen, 
i.  23],  219 

Fairfax,  Thomas,  Lord,  7 

Fame  Island,  Cuthbert  on  [Monta- 
lembert,  iv.  137],  53 

Feckenham,  abbot  of  Westminster, 
and  Lady  Jane  Grey,  153,  155 

Fe"nelon,  archbishop  of  Cambrai, 
203  ;  and  Madame  Guyon,  216 

Ferdinand  the  Catholic,  his  death  fore- 
told [Stirling-Maxwell's  "Charles 
V.,"266],  12f> 

Feuiilants,  the,  203 


Finnian,  St,  and  Columba  [Monta- 

lembert,  iii.  20],  50 
Fisher,  John,   bishop  of  Rochester, 

117;    account    of    [Bridget!,    see 

Appendix  A,  chap,  v.],  130-132 
Fitzgerald,  Edward,  324,  325 
Fitzurse,  murderer  of  Becket,  76 
"  Flagellum  Dei  "  (Attila),  41 
Flanders,  Dunstan  in,  66 
Fletcher,  Dr,  dean  of  Peterborough ; 

and  Mary,  Queen  of  Scots,  166 
Fletcher,  Phinehas,  7  ;  quoted  [Poet 

Misc.,  Psalm  cxxx.,  stanza  3],  175 
Florence,  Spinello's  frescoes  at,  42; 

Savonarola  at,  118,  119,  121 
"  Forcats  de  la  Foi  "  [see  Appendix 

A,  chaps,  vii.,  viii.],  183 
Forest,  John  Confessor  to  Catherine 

of  Arragon   [Lingard,  v.  107  n. ; 

"  Faithful  unto  Death"  chap,  iii.], 

132 
Fotheringay,  Mary,  Queen  of  Scots, 

executed  at,  165 
Fountains     Abbey,     foundation    of 

[Narratio,  etc.,  see   Appendix  A, 

chap,    iv.],   86-89;    deputation  to 

Clairvaux  [ihid.,  p.  35],  89 
Fox,  Charles  James,  and  Wilberforce 

["  Life  of  Wilberforce,"  i.  17],  306 
Fox,  George,  the  Quaker,  337 
Fox,  John,  the  Martyrologist,  quoted 

[1555,  1554],  139,  156 
Franc,  Guillaume,  sets  the  Psalms  to 

music,  147 
Francis   I.    of  France,  and    Marot, 

147 ;  at  the  church  of  the  Certosa, 

191  ;  his  death,  191 
Francis  of  Assisi,  St  10 ;  his  "  Canticle 

of  the  Sun "  [Sabatier,  304-5 ;  M. 

Arnold,  '•  Essays  in  Criticism,"  212- 

13],  91,  92  ;  account  of  [Sabatier  ; 

Spec.  Perfectionis,  chaps,  iv. ,  cxiii. , 

cxviii.  ],  90-92 

Franciscans  at  Greenwich,  132 
Francis  de  Sales,  St,  203;  account 

of    [Lear,    27-8;     259-265,    etc.], 

208-210;    and  the   Port-Royalists, 

214,  215 

Francois  Xavier,  see  Xavier 
Frankish  Kingdom,  the,  68,  69 
Franklin,  Benjamin,  on  the  American 

Constitution  [Works,  ed.  Sparks, 

v.  155],  231,  232 

Free  Church,  the,  founded,  310,  311 
Frere,  John  Hookham,  7 
Frisians,  the,  Wilfrid  and,  64 
Fry,  Elizabeth,  332 
Fuller,     Thomas,    cited     ["Church 

Hist,"  book  vii.,  31,  32],  148 
Furruckabad,     Edwards     and     the 

Probyus  at,  362,  364 


404 


INDEX 


GALL,  St,  44;  at  Bregenz   [Monta- 

lembert,     ii.     272],     47;     founds 

monastery  [ibid.,  ii.  293],  47,  48 
Gandia,     Duke     of,     see     Borgia, 

Francis 
Gardiner,  Allen  Francis,  Commander, 

account  of  [Marsh's  Memoir],  346- 

348;   his  Diary  quoted  [ibid.,  363 

seq.],  347,  348 
Gardiner,  James,  Colonel,    account 

of      [Doddridge,       "  Remarkable 

Passages,"   30  seq.l,  352-354;   his 

vision  [ibid.,  84,  85],  353,  354 
Gardon  river,  Lalande  defeated  at, 

223,  224 
Geneva,  Calvin  introduces  chanting 

of  Psalms  at,   185;    Fra^ois    de 

Sales  at,  209 

"  Geneva  Jigs,  The,"  148 
Genevieve,    St,    and    Paris    [Alban 

Butler,  January  3rd],  41 
Gerhardt,  Paul,  his  hymn,  146 
Germanus,    bishop    of   Auxerre,   in 

Britain  [Bede,   I.  xvii.   and  xx.], 

55 
Ghent,   monastery  of  St    Peter   at, 

Dunstan  in,  66 ;  Egmont  and  Horn 

at,  157 
Gibson,  John,  death  of  [Wodrow,  iv. 

243],  286 
Gioacchino  di   Fiore,  the  Calabrian 

seer  [Sabatier,  St  Francis,  46-50], 

90 

Gladstone,  W.  E.,  10 
Glasgow,  Edward  Irving  at,  314 
Glastonbury,  Dunstan,  abbot  of,  66 
Goa,  Camoens  at,  207 
Godeau,  bishop  of  Grasse  and  Vence, 

his  Preface  to  the  Psalms  quoted 

[2nded.,p.  viii.],  204,  205 
Godfrey,  abbot  of  St  Mary's,  York,  87 
Goethe,  8 
"Golden  Legend,  The,"  quoted  [ed. 

Ellis,  voL  i.  98],  110-112 
Gorgonia,  sister  of  Gregory  Nazian- 

zen,  her  death  [Ullmann,  136, 137], 

16 
Goute,  Madame  de  la,  sister  of  the 

widow  Prosni,  213 
Goudimel,  Claude,  sets  the  Psalms 

to  music,  147 

Greenwich,  Franciscans  at  ["  Faith- 
ful unto  Death,"  see  Appendix  A, 

chap,  v.l,  132 
Gregory  of  Decapolis,  cited  [Migne, 

c.  1210;  Galland,  BibL  Vet  Pat, 

xiii.  513],  13 
Gregory     the     Great,     account    of 

[Vita,  ap.  Migne, Ixxv., 230;  Greg. 

Epist  I.  v. ;  ibid.,  Ixxvii.  448],  57, 

68;    and    conversion  of   England 


[Montalembert,  iii.  186  tea. ;  Bede, 
I.  xxv.],  57,  58 

Gregory  Nazianzen,  account  of 
[Ullmann],  15,  16;  against  Julian, 
38 

Gregory,  father  of  the  preceding 
[Ullmann,  17,  19,  302],  15,  16 

Gregory  VII.,  Pope,  see Hildebrand 

Grelet,  M.,  and  Madame  de  Noailles, 
356 

Grenfell,  Lydia,  and  Henry  Martyn 
[Sargent's  Memoir ;  Journal],  340, 
343 

Grenoble,  225,  226 

Grey,  Lady  Jane,  see  Dudley 

Grey,  Lady  Katharine,  sister  of  Lady 
Jane,  154 

Groningen,  James  Ren  wick  at,  284 

Guilds,  mottoes  of,  3 

Guiscard,  Robert,  and  Salerno 
[Bowden,  I.  156],  72;  and  Hilde- 
brand [Bowden,  II.  312  ;  Monta- 
lembert, v.  365],  73 

Guise,  Due  de,  193,  195 

Gustavus  Adolphus,  watchword  of,  81 

Guthrun,  the  Dane,  65 

Guyon,  Madame,  her  imprisonment 
[Upham's  "Life,"  379],  216 

Gwynlliu,  the  Warrior  [Montalem- 
bert, ii.  409-410],  56 

Gytha,  wife  of  Vladimir  Mono- 
machus,  94 

HADRIAN  I. ,  Pope,  and  Charlemagne, 

70,  71 

Hague,  the,  John  Howard  at,  332 
Haemmerlein,  Thomas,  see  d  Kempis 
Hall,  Bishop,  7 ;  preaches  at  White- 
hall, 232 
Hamilton,    Sir    Robert,    on    giving 

quarter  at  Drumclog  [Wodrow,  iii. 

70  n.],  277 
Hamilton,  Sir  William,  10 ;  his  death, 

317 
Hammond,  CoL    Robert,  Cromwell 

writes  to,  254 
Hampden,  John,  death  of,  at  Chal- 

grove  Field,  241,  242 
Hampole,  Richard  Rolle  of,  144 
Hannington,  Bishop,  339 ;  death  of, 

[Dawson,     443],     351,     352;     his 

Diary  quoted  [Dawson,  440,  441], 

352 
Harding,  Master,  Lady  Jane  Grey 

writes  to,  153,  154 
Harding,  Stephen,  founder    of  the 

Cistercians,  60 ;  account  of  [Life, 

in  Newman,  vol.  i.],  84,  85 
Hare,  Julius,  death  of,  309 
Harold  of  England,  father  of  Gytha, 

94 


INDEX 


405 


Harvie,  Marion,  death  of  [Wodrow, 
iii.  277;  "  Cloud  of  Witnesses." 
135  *«?.],  271,  286,  287 

Haslerigg,  Sir  Arthur,  governor  of 
Newcastle,  Cromwell  writes  to 
[Carlyle,  iii.  30],  256 

Hatton  Garden,  Irvine's  chapel  in, 
311 

Haughton,  Sir  Gilbert,  his  son  killed 
at  Marston  Moor,  241 

Haughton,  John,  prior  of  the  Charter- 
house, account  of  [Froude,  ii. 
342-362],  132,  133 

Havelock,  Henry,  364 ;  at  Jellalabad, 
360 ;  death  of,  360,  361 

Headrigg,  Mause  ("  Old  Mortality  "), 
272 

Heine,  Heinrich,  8 ;  quoted,  1 ;  and 
Psalm  cxxxvii.  [Romanzero,  book 
iii.,  Jehuda  Ben  Halevy,  ii. ; 
Werke,  xviii. ;  and  Letter  to  Moser, 
Werke,  xix.,p.  71],  207 

Helena,  The  Empress,  her  "inven- 
tion "  of  the  True  Cross,  78 

Henry  II.  of  England,  and  Becket,  76 

Henry  II.  of  France,  and  Marot 
[Douen,  i.  709  ;  Bordier,  viii.,  ix.], 
147,  180 

Henry  IV.  of  England,  82 

Henry  IV.  of  France  (Henry  of 
Navarre),  10  ;  and  the  Huguenots, 
193,  194,  197-201 ;  Metezeau  dedi- 
cates version  of  the  Psalter  to,  204 

Henry  IV.  of  Germany,  at  Canossa 
[Bowden's  "Gregory  VII."  ii. 
174  ;  Montalembert,  v.  364],  73 

Henry  V.  of  England,  10,  82 

Herbert,  George,  7;  and  Francis 
Bacon  [Walton,  ed.  1866,  269; 
Bacon's  Works],  172, 176  ;  account 
of  [Walton,  273,  307],  176,  177 

Herder,  Johann  Gottfried,  8 

Herefrith,  abbot  of  Lindisfarne, 
cited  [Bede's  "  St  Cuthbert,"chaps. 
xxxvii.-xl.],  53,  54 

Herles-how,1iill  of,  88 

Hexhara,  Wilfrid  at,  64 

Higginson,  Francis,  teacher  at  Salem 
['•  Wonder-Working  Providence"], 
230 

Hilary,  St,  bishop  of  Poitiers,  27  ; 
church  of,  at  Poitiers,  69 

Hildebrand(Pope  Gregory  VII.),  10 ; 
account  of  [Bowden ;  Montalem- 
bert, vol.  v.  ],  72,  73 

"  Hill  Folk,  The,"  270 

"  Hind  Let  Loose,  The,"  engravings 
of  Covenanter  martyrs  in,  287 

Hippo,  death  of  St  Augustine  at 
[Bright's  "Fathers,"  ii.  306; 
Possidius],  18 


Hobbs,  abbot  of  Woburn,  192 
Hoffmann,  Aug.  Heinr.  von  Fallers- 

leben,     quoted     ["  Fundgruben," 

pt  i.,p.  3],  45 

Hohenstaufen,  the,  at  Salerno,  72 
Hogg,  James  (the  Ettrick  Shepherd), 

his  boyhood,  322 
Holbein,  Hans,  his  portrait  of  Fisher, 

[Woltmann,  p.  313],  130 
Honorius,  The    Emperor,    and    the 

taking  of  Rome  [Procopius,  Bell. 

Vandal,  i.  2;  Gibbon,  chap,  xxix.], 

Hooker,  Richard,  cited  [EccL  PoL, 

book  v.,  chap,  xxxix.  1],  150;  his 

"  Ecclesiastical       Polity,"       175  ; 

quoted  [book  v.,  chap,  xxxviii.  2], 

178,  179;   his  death  [Walton,  ed. 

1866,  p.  213],  175 
Hooper,  John,  bishop  of  Gloucester ; 

account  of  [Later  Writings,  Parker 

Society, and  Introduction],  137-139; 

quoted  [ibid.,  xxxii.  176,  373,  294-5, 

583,  584],  138-139 
Hooper,  Anne,  wife  of  the  preceding, 

138 
Hopkins,    John,    translator    of   the 

Psalms,  147,  148,  149 
Horn,    Count,    friend    of    Egraont, 

account  of  [Motley,  pL  iii.,  chap. 

i.,  ii.],  157-160 
Horner,  the  martyr  [Southwell,  ed. 

Grosart,  p.  52],  141 
"  Hortensius,"    of  Cicero,  the,    in- 
fluences Augustine  [Conf.,  IILiv.], 

34 
Howard,  John,  339 ;  account  of  [J. 

B.  Brown,  Memoirs],  331, 332  ;  his 

Diary  quoted   [Ibid.,   270],    332; 

preparations  for  his  last  journey 

[Ibid.,  592,  593],  332 
Hugh  of  Cluni  [Vita,  apud  Migne, 

clix.  867],  61 

Hugh  of  Kirkstall,  see  Kirkstall 
Hugo,    Victor,  his    "Legende    des 

Siecles  "  quoted  (xxvi.,  La  Rose  de 

I'lnfante),  167 
"  Hugon,  Le  Roi,"  189 
"  Huguenots,"  utensils  so  called,  189 
Huguenotes,  the,  182  seq. ;  houses  of, 

189;  "Marseillaise"  of,  81,   182; 

persecutions  of,  191,  seq.,  217  seq.  ; 

poetry  of,  188,  189;  proverbs,  etc., 

concerning,  189,  190 
Huguenot  seal,  device  on,  183 
Humboldt,     Alexander     von,     10; 

quoted,  315 

Huns,  the,  invasion  of,  41 
Hunter,  his  Diary  during  siege  of 

Londonderry  quoted  [Walker,  ed. 

Dwyer,  p.  200],  292 


406 


INDEX 


Hus,  John,  10,  115;  death  of,  116 
Hypatia,  the  murder  of,  19 

II.EY,  Alfred  at,  65 

"Imitatio    Christi,"    the    (and     see 

Thomas  d  Kempis),  100-103 
Indians,     South     American,     Allen 

Gardiner  and  the,  346 
Ingliston,  cave  at  [Wodrow,  iv.  243], 

286 
lona,  Columba  at  [Montalembert-,  iii. 

37,  etc.],  51 ;  importance  of,  P 
Ireland,  Cromwell  in,  254 
Iris  river,  in  Pontus,  22,  23 
Irongray,   Minister   Welsh  at,    269; 

M' Robin  hanged  at,  286 
Irving,  Edward,  account  of,  311-314  ; 

his  death,  314 
Itala,  death  of  Livingstone  at  [Last 

Journals,  ii.  308;  Blaikie],  351 
Ivan  the  Terrible,  83 

JAMES  I.  of  England,  7  •    his  version 

of  the  Psalter,  149,  282 ;  and  the 

Scottish  Kirk,  267 
Jarnac,  Conde  killed  at  [Puaux,  ii. 

279],  196 

Jarrow,  monastery  of,  62,  63 
Jellalabad,  siege  of,  359,  360 
Jerome,  St,  10  ;  account  of  [Thierry], 

24-27 ;     revises     Septuagint     and 

Psalms  [Thierry,  i.  142],  25  ;    his 

letter  to  Marcella  [Thierry,  i.  350], 

25  ;  on  the  boyhood  of  Origen,  15; 

on  the  taking  of  Rome,  40 ;  quoted 

by  Raleigh,  169 
Jerome    of    Prague,    10,    115;     his 

death,  116,  117 

Jerusalem  taken  by  Saladin,  81 
Jesuits,  the,  202,  203 
Jewel,  Bishop,  cited  [Works, ed.  Jelf, 

viii.    141],    149  ;    his   "Apology," 

175  ;  his  death,  176 
Jews,  the,  lamentation  over    Jeru- 
salem, 192 
John    II.    of    France,    prisoner    in 

England,  206 
Jokn   VIII.,   Pope,  and  Cyril  and 

Methodius      [Stanley,      "Eastern 

Church,"  368  *g.J,  44 
John,  abbot    of    St    Salvator,  and 

Anselm,  75 
Johnson,     his     **  Wonder  -  Working 

Providence  "  quoted,  231 
Johnson,    Dr,   on    Law's    "  Serious 

Call"  [Boswell,  ed.  Hill,  i.  68],  30  : 
Joinville,  Sire  de,  cited  [Hist  de  St 

Louis,  2me  partie,  xv.],  98 
Jonas,  Justus,  his  hymn,  146 
Jones,  Philip,  quoted  [see  Appendix 

A,  and  lurkey  merchantmen},  170 


Jonson,  Ben,  his  ** Poetaster"  quoted 

(Act  v.,  sc.  1],  327 
Joyeuse,  Due  de,  at  Courtras,  199, 

:i(X) 
Julian,  The  Emperor,  and  Gregory 

Nazianzen,  38 

KEBLE,  John,  7,  303;  his  metrical 
Psalter  [see  Appendix  A,  chap. 
XL],  307;  his  "Christian  Year" 
quoted,  307,  308 

Kempen,  101 

Kempis,  Thomas  a,  8,  9  ;  account  of, 
61,  100-102 ;  his  "Soliloquy  of  the 
Soul"  [KettleweU,  "Brothers,"  i. 
181  Mf4  101,  102 

Ken,  Bishop,  7 

Kennedy,  Jane,  and  Mary,  Queen  of 
Scots,  165 

Kentigern,  venerated  as  St  Mungo 
[Montalembert,  iii.  164],  54;  recites 
the  Psalter  [Life,  by  Jocelyn,  xiv. , 
Pinkerton,  ii.  29],  54;  founder 
of  Elwy  [Montalembert,  ii.  396], 
54 

Kethe,  William,  versifier  of  the 
Psalms,  148,  150;  his  "All  people 
that  on  earth  do  dwell,"  149 

Kettering,  the  "  Particular  Baptists" 
founded  at,  337 

Kherson  (Cherson),  St  Vladimir 
baptised  at,  94;  death  of  John 
Howard  at  [Memoirs,  629],  332 

Kidderminster,  Richard  Baxter  at 
[Orme,  i.  169».]»  301,302 

Kieff,  baptisms  at,  94 ;  cathedral  of 
St  Sophia  at,  39 

"  Killing  Times,  The,"  283-285 

King,  Bishop,  7 

Kings,  the  Three,  see  Wise  men  of 
the  East 

Kingsley,  Charles,  quoted  [Letters 
and  Memories,  i.  292,  293],  310 

Kingston,  Ethelred  crowned  at,  66 

Kirke,  Major-Gen.,  at  siege  of  Lon- 
donderry [Walker,  June  15th], 
292,  295 

Kirk-o'-Field,  the,  described,  162; 
death  of  Darnley  at,  162-165 

Kirkstall,  Hugh  of,  cited  (History  of 
Fountains),  see  Fountains,  86  seq. 

Knox,  John,  introduces  Genevan 
Psalter  into  Scotland,  149 ;  quoted, 
261,  262,  263,  264;  death  of, 
264 

Koulikoff,  defeat  of  Tartars  at,  83 

Kremlin,  the,  sermon  of  Metro- 
politan in,  358 

Kruger,  President,  quoted,  366,  367 

Kussowrah,  William  Edwards  and 
the  Probyns  at,  362-364 


INDEX 


407 


Kyle,  Alexander  Peden  preaches  in, 
282 

LA  CHAISE,  Pere,  217 

Lacknacor,  stone  of,  Coluraba  born 

on,  50 
Lady  Holland,  The,  wreck  of,  344, 

345 
Laeghaire,  King,  and  St  Patrick,  48, 

49 
L»ta,    stepdaughter    of    Paula,    St 

Jerome  addresses  his  treatise  to 

her,  24 

La  Ferte,  monastery  of,  86 
La  Jonqui&re,  Genera!,  defeated  by 

Camisards  at  the  Bridge  of  Saiiii- 

dres,  223,  224 
Lamartiue,  Alphonse  de,  8 
Lammermoor  hills,  Cuthbert  on,  53 
Lancaster,  Joseph,  330 
Lancaster  Gaol,  John  Howard  and 

prisoners  in,  332 
Lanfranc,  Archbishop,  and  William 

the  Conqueror,  73,  74 
Langen  Scnwalbach,  sundial  at,  4 
Langland,     80;    "Piers    Plowman" 

quoted,  107-109 
Langres,  diocese  of,  84 
La  Noue  cited,  182 
Laud,  Archbishop,  trial  and  death, 

239,  240 ;  his  Prayers  quoted,  240, 

241 

Lauderdale  quoted,  274 
Laval,  du  Chayla,  prior  of  220 
Law,  William,  302,  303  ;  his  "  Serious 

Call"  quoted   [Works,   iv.    148-9, 

159],  303 
Leake,  captain  of   The  Dartmouth, 

295 
Leclerc,  Jean,  death  of  [Crespin,  p. 

85],  190,  191 
Lefevre  d'Etaples,  translation  of  the 

Psalter.  190 
Legnano,  battle  of,  77 
Leguat,  Francois,   on  the  island  of 

Rodrigues  [see  Appendix  A,  chap. 

vii.],  183 
Leighton,  Robert,  archbishop  [Wod- 

row,  i.  237;  ii.  175],  269 
Leignes  river,  84 
Lennox,  Duke  of,  and  Durie,  265 
Leo,  St,  and  Rome  [Gibbon,  chap. 

xxxvi.],  41,  42 
Leo  III.,  Pope,  crowns  Charlemagne, 

71 
Leo,  Brother,  cited  [Speculum  Per- 

fectionis,  chap.  iv.J,  90 
Leonides,  father  of  Origen  [Thierry, 

St  Jerome,  i.  354],  19 
Lerins,  43,  62 
Lerins,  Vincentius  of,  61 


Les  Devois  de  Martignargues,  battle 

of  [Peyrat,  ii.  85],  223 
Leslie,  Alexander,  Covenanter,  267 
Leslie,  General   David,  defeated  by 

Cromwell  at  Dunbar,  255-257 
Lestrange,  comrade  of  Coligny,  196 
Leyden,  Separatists  at,  230 
Liguge,  monastery  at,  27,  28 
Lille,    John    Howard  at   [Memoirs, 

418],  331 
Lindisfarne,  Cuthbert  at,  53 ;  Wilfrid 

at,  63 
Lindsay,  Sir  David,  translates  the 

Psalter,  262 

Linnaeus,  inscription  on  his  lecture- 
room  [Stoever,  269],  45,  46 
Livingstone,   David,   10;   buried  in 

Westminster    Abbey     ["Personal 

Life,"  452-455],  333 ;  account  of,  and 

death  [Blackie's  "Personal  Life"; 

"  Last  Journals,"  ii.  308],  349-351 
Llancarvan,  monastery  at  [Monta- 

lembert,  ii.  406],  55 
Locke,  John,  10 ;  his  death,  315 
Locmenach,  monastery  of,  96 
Londonderry,  see  Derry 
Longjumeau,  treaty  of  [Crottet,  302  j, 

194 

Lorraine,  Schuch  in,  191 
Louis   IX.  (St),  10,  93 ;  account  of, 

and  death   [Martin,   iv.    326-330; 

Perry's  "  St  Louis  "],  98 
Louis  XIII.  and  Godeau,  204 
Louise  of  Savoy,  regent  of  France, 

191 
Loup,    St,    saves    Troyes     [Alban 

Butler,  July   24],  41;   in  Britain, 

see  Lupus  (infra},  55 
"Loyalty  House      (Basing  House) 

[Carlyle,    "Cromwell,"    i.    213], 

251 

Lozere,  caves  of,  188 
Lucknow,  relief  of,  360,  364,  365 
Ludlow,  Col.  Edmund,  his  interview 

with  Cromwell  [Carlyle,  iii.  5],  254, 

255 

Lundy,  Col.,  at  Londonderry,  290 
Lupus,  of  Troyes  (and  see  St  Loup), 

in  Britain  [6ede,  I.  xvii.  and  xx.1, 

55 
Luther,    10,    117,    121 ;     writes    to 

Ludwig   Seuffel,    16;   account  of, 

122-124  ;  his  hymns,  145 
Lutterworth,  death  of  Wyclif  at,  113 
Luynes,  at  Montauban,  212 
Lydd,  Church  of  SS.    Crispin  and 

Crispinian  at  [Habted's  Kent,  iii. 

514],  13 

Lyons,  Wilfrid  at  63 
Lyons,   gulf  of,   Vincent   de   Paul 

captured  in,  2 Ob 


408 


INDEX 


Lyttelton,  Lord,  on  Law'g  "  Serious 

Call,"  302 

MACAO,  Caraoens  at,  207 

Macaulay,  Lord,  his  epitaph  on  Henry 
Martyn  quoted,  344 

MacBriar,  Ephraim,  ("Old  Mor- 
tality"), Hugh  M'Kail  prototype 
of,  273 

Machadodorp,  President  Kruger's 
despatches  from,  366,  367 

M'Kail,  Hugh,  271,  285;  death  of 
[Wodrow,  ii.  53,  58,  59  n.],  273,  274 

Mackay,  Alexander  Murdoch,  10 

Mackenzie,  quoted  on  siege  of  Lon- 
donderry, 296 

Maclachlan  (McLauchlison),  Mar- 
garet, death  of  [Wodrow,  iv.  248, 
249],  287,  288 

McMichael,  Daniel,  death  of  [Wod- 
row, iv.  239,  240],  286 

McRobin,  Alexander,  death  of  [Wod- 
row, iv.  240],  286 

Maes-Garmon,  battle  of  [Bede,  I. 
xvii.,  xx.],  55 

Magus  Moor,  murder  of  Archbishop 
Sharp  on,  276 

Maine  de  Biran,  account  of,  315-317 

Maintenon,  Madame  de,  217 

Male,  William  von,  friend  of  Charles 
V.,125 

Mamai,  defeated  at  Koulikoff,  83 

Manichees,  the,  Augustine  and 
[Conf.,  III.  v.;  IX.  iv.],  34,  37 

Manning,  Cardinal,  quoted  [Purcell's 
"  Life,"  i.  68],  308 

Mantes,  William  the  Conqueror  killed 
at,  93 

Marazion,  Henry  Martyn  at,  341 

Marcella,  letter  of  Paula  and  Eusto- 
chium  to,  15;  her  community  on  the 
Aventine  [Thierry,  St  Jerome,  i.  29, 
350],  23,  24,  25,  26;  letter  of 
Jerome  to,  25,  26 

Margaret,  Countess  of  Pembroke,  see 
Pembroke 

Margaret,  Countess  of  Richmond,  see 
Richmond 

Marguerite  de  Valois,  and  Marot,  146 

Marillac,  Michel  de,  versifier  of  the 
Psalter,  204 

Marmoutier,  monastery  of,  28 

Marot,  Clement,  and  Charles  V.,  124  ; 
his  "sanctes  chansonettes  "  [Bor- 
dier,  viii.,  ix.  ;  Douen,  i.  709],  146, 
147,  180  ;  his  version  of  the  Psalms 
[Douen,  i.  289],  183,  184,  185,  193, 
220 ;  his  version  of  the  Psalms  pro- 
hibited, 191,  205;  Francis  I.  and, 
191 

Marston  Moor,  battle  of,  241 


Martin,  St,  of  Tours,  church  of,  69 ; 

account  of  [Newman's  '•  Historical 

Sketches,"  ii,  186-190,  203 ;  Baring- 

Gould,  November  llth],  27,  28 
Martin,  Sarah,  332 
Martyn,  Henry,  10,  334,  346;  account 

of  [Kaye's  *«  Indian  Officers,"  i.  459 

seq.;   Sargent's    Memoir]   339-344; 

his  Journal  quoted  [Journal,  i.  67, 

162,  145,  152],  336,  337,  340,  343 
Martyrs,     hymn     of     (Augustine's) 

[sermo  ccclxvi.],  12 
Mary,    Queen    of    Scots,    10;    and 

Darnley,   161-165;   death  of,   165, 

166 ;  lines  written  before  execution, 

166 

Mary  I.,  queen  of  England,  160 
Mary  II.,  queen  of  England,  290 
Masham,    Sir    Francis    and    Lady, 

315 
Mather,    Cotton,    versifier    of     the 

Psalms,  231 
Maurice,    The    Emperor,    death    of 

[Gibbon,  chap,  xlvi.],  13,  278 
Mayenne,  Due  de,  200,  212 
Mayflower,  The,  230 
Mazel,  Camisard  historian,  quoted, 

224 
Meaux,  Leclerc,  wool-comber  of,  190; 

the  prisoners  of  [Crespin,  p.  169], 

191,  192 
Mediaeval  art,  Jerome  in   [Thierry, 

ii.  243],  27 

Mediaeval  science,  99,  100 
Mekong  river,  Camoens  at,  207 
Melancthon,  10,  117;  death  of,  122; 

and  Luther,  123 
Melrose,  Cuthbert  at,  53 
Melville,  Andrew,    264;    death    of, 

266 
Melville,  James,  quoted  [Diary,  22, 

27],  265 ;  death  of  [Diary,  xxviii. 

seq.~\,  266 
Metezeau,    Jean,    versifier    of    the 

Psalms,  204 

Methodists,  the,  299,  305 
Methodius  and  Cyril,  translation  of 

the  Bible  in  Sclavonic  [Stanley's 

"Eastern  Church,"  368  seq.~\,  44 
Metz,  Jean  Leclerc  dies  at,  190 
Michel     Angelo,     his     picture     of 

Savonarola,  121 
Milan,   death    of   Ambrose    at,   18; 

Council   of,   29;    Theodosius  and 

Ambrose  at,    32;    Augustine    at, 

34,  38 
Milbourne,      Luke,      versifies      the 

Psalms,  8 
Milton,  7  ;  versifies  the  Psalms,  243 ; 

the    Psalms    in    his    poetry,  243, 

244 


INDEX 


409 


'Mirror     for     Magistrates,     The" 

(Psalra  ci.),  172 
Moir,  David  Macbeth,  quoted  (Night 

Hymn  of  the  Cameronians),  275, 

276 

Molesrae,  monastery  of,  84 
Monasticism,  spread  of,  22,  28 ;   in 

Rome,  23;  in  Gaul,  27;  in  Western 

Europe,  44 
Monica,  or  Monnica,  death  of  [Aug. 

Conf.,ix.  12],  17 
Monkton  Farleigh,  Bishop  Jewel  dies 

at,  176 
Monmouth,  Duke  of,  and   Cargill, 

279 
Montaigne  quoted  [Essays,  I.  Ivi.], 

204 
Montauban,  182  ;  siege  of,  212,  213  ; 

Rochette  at,  227 
Montcontour,     battle    of,     Coligny 

wounded  at  [Douen,  i.  13;  d'Au- 

bigne,  I.  v.,xvi.],  196 
Monte  Cassino,  founded  by  Benedict, 

42,  43 
Montpelher,  death    of   Benezet   at, 

226 
Montrose,  psalm-singing  introduced 

at,  265 

Moors,  the,  in  Spain,  82 
More,  Sir  Thomas,  117;  Luther  on 

["  Table-talk,"  dcclxix.],  126;  ac- 
count of  [Bridgett],  128-130 
Morimond,  monastery  of,  86 
Moscow,  threatened  by  Tartars,  83  , 

Napoleon  at,  358  ;  Metropolitan  of, 

his  sermon,  358 
"  Mouchard,"  190 
Mountjoy,  Lord,  289 
Mountjoy,    The,    at    siege    of   Lon- 
donderry   [Walker,    July     30th], 

295,  296 

Mulla,  the  white  stag  of,  49 
Mungo,  St,  of  Glasgow  (Kentigern), 

54 

Miantzer,  Thomas,  151 
Musselburgh,  Cromwell  at,  255 
Mutiny,  the  Indian,  361-365 
Mwanga,  King,  and  Bishop  Hanning- 

ton  [Dawson,  440],  351,  352 

NANCY,  Schuch  burned  at,  191 

Nantes,  Edict  of,  200,  201,  204; 
revoked  [Puaux,  vi.  87  Mf.J,  217, 
218 

Napoleon,  at  Moscow,  358 

Napoleon  III.,  and  Revolution  of 
1848,  358 

Naseby,  battle  of  [Carlyle,  "Crom- 
well," i.  192],  252 

Neander,  309,  310 

*•  Neck-verse,  the,'*  3 


Nelson,    servant    to    Darnley,    161, 

165 
Neot,    St,    account    of   [Newman's 

"  English  Saints,"  iii.  109-187],  65  ; 

recites  the  Psalter  daily  [ibid.,  109, 

110],  65 
Newman,  Cardinal,  303 ;  his  "  Dream 

of  Gerontius  "  quoted  ["  Verses  on 

various  occasions,"  323-370],  308, 

309 
Newport  (Monmouth),    St  Woolos, 

56 

Newton,  John,  303,  305 
Nicasius,    bishop    of    Rheims,    his 

death,  41 
Nicephorus,      Patriarch,      instructs 

Vladimir  [Palmer's  Dissertations, 

92-3],  94,  95 

Nicolai,  Philip,  his  hymn,  146 
Niebelungenlied,  the,  41 
"  Night  Hymn  of  the  Cameronians, 

The,"  quoted,  275 
Nisbet,  John,  death  of  [Wodrow,  iv. 

235  ;  "  Cloud  of  Witnesses,"  466], 

285 
Noailles,  Madame  de,  quoted  [Duras, 

«•  Journal,"  etc.,   192,   203],   356, 

357  ;  death  of  [ibid.,  284-97],  356, 

357 
Noailles-Mouchy,  Due  de,   death  of 

[ibid.,    183],   356;    Marechale    de 

[ibid.,  223,  4,  5],  356 
Nola,  Paulinus  dies  at,  18 
Nonna,  mother  of  Gregory  Nazianzen 

[Ullmann,  17],  15,  16 
Noyers  [Puaux,  ii.  273],  194, 196 

"O  DEUS,  ego  amo  Te"  (Xavier's 
hymn),  translated,  134 

Odoacer  and  Severinus  [Monta- 
lembert,  i.  374;  Gibbon,  chap. 
xxx vi.],  42 

Oran,  capture  of,  83 

Ordericus  Vitalis  quoted,  on  death  of 
William  the  Conqueror  [Hist 
Eccles.,  VIII.,  xiv.  and  xvi.],  93, 
94 

Origen,  10;  his  boyhood  [Thierry, 
St  Jerome,  i.  354],  15,  19  ;  account 
of  [Thierry,  354-360],  19,  20 ;  his 
apostasy  and  remorse  [Epiphanius 
Hser.,  Ixiv.  2;  apud  Migne,  xli. 
1072-3],  20 

Orleans,  cathedral  of,  188 

Orleans,  Duchess  of,  and  Jean 
Rousseau,  187,  188 

Ormiston,  Wishart  at,  263 

Orthez,  bridge  of,  188 

Ostia,  Augustine  and  Monica  at,  17 

Oundle,  Wilfrid  dies  at,  64 

Oxford  University,  motto  of,  4 


410 


INDEX 


PADUA,  St  Francois  de  Sales  at,  209 
Paiges,  Sebastian,  court  musician  to 

Mary,  Queen  of  Scots,  163 
Palissy,  Bernard,  account  of  [Morley, 

II.  242-246;  Palaysi,  36,  37],  184 
Pambo  [Socrates,  Eccles.  Hist ,  IV. 

xxiii.],  22 

Paraclete,  the,  oratory  of,  96 
Parker,   Archbishop,    7 ;   his   Diary 

quoted,  148 ;  falls  from  his  horse 

[Strype,  book  i.,  chap.  vii.]»  148; 

his    translation    of    the     Psalms, 

148 
'•Particular  Baptist  Society,  The," 

founded  at  Kettering,  337 
Pascal,  Blaise,  8,  9 ;  quoted  [Pense'es 

XXIII.  viii.  ;  XIV.  vii.J,  215,16  ' 
"Pastors  of  the  Desert,  The"  [see 

Appendix  A,  chap,  viii.],  225  seq. 
Paterson,  Bishop,  and  Marion  Harvie 

["  Cloud  of  Witnesses  " ;  Wodrow, 

iii.  277],  286 
Patrick,  St,  at  Tara  [Tripartite  Life. 

i.  41   seq.  ;  ii.  455 ;  O'Hanlon,  iii. 

554  seq.  1,  48,  49 
Patteson,  Bishop,  339 
Paul  and  Silas  at  Philippi,  6 
Paul    III.,   Pope,  creates   Fisher    a 

cardinal,  131 
Paula  (the  elder),  account    of,  and 

death   [Th.erry,  St  Jerome,  i.  32, 

159,  160,  225-310,  312,  335 ;  ii.   85- 

88],  24,  25,  26;  and  Eastochium, 

letter  to  Marcella  [Thierry,  i.  350 ; 

PaL  Pilgrims'  Text  Society,  vol.  i.  ], 

14,  15 
Paula  (the  younger)  [Thierry,  ii.  61, 

241],  24,  27 
Paulina,  daughter  of  Paula  the  elder 

[Thierry,  i.  159,  160],  24 
Paulinus,  Bishop  of  Nola,  death  of 

[Bright's  "History,"  334],  18 
Pavia,  battle  of,  191 
Peden,     Alexander,     271;     quoted 

["  Six  Saints,"  i.  70,  etc.  ],  277,  280, 

286,     289;      account     of     ["Six 

Saints"],   280-283;    specimens   of 

his  preaching  ["  Six  Saints,"  i.  59 ; 

i.  90],  282,  283 
Pelican,  the,  as  the  symbol  of  Christ, 

3 
Pembroke,  Margaret,  Countess  of,  7  ; 

translates  Psalms,  169 
Penitential  Psalms,  the  (i.e.,  vi. ,  xxxii. , 

xxxviii.,  Ii.,    cii.,    cxxx.,    cxliii.), 

Augustine    [Possidius,     31],     18; 

Dante   [Gardner's   "Dante,"  40], 

103;  Fisher  [Bridgett,  106],  131; 

Spenser  [Works,  ed.  Payne  Collier, 

i.,  ixxv.,  ed.  Todd,  i.,  clxxi.   ».], 

169 


Pentland    Rising,    the,    account    of 

[Wodrow;  Blackader, "  Six  Saints"] 

272,  273,  280 
Pepin,  of  France,  70 
Persecution,    of   Diocletian,    12;   of 

Severus,  19 
Peters,     Hugh,     quoted      [Carlyle, 

"  Cromwell,"  i.  213],  253,  254 
Philip  I.  of  France,  93 
Philip  II.  of  Spain,  and  the  Nether- 
lands  [Motley,  pt   iii.,  chap,    i., 

etc.],  157 

Phillips,  Edward,  quoted,  149 
Phocas,  and  the  Emperor  Maurice, 

13 

Phcenix,   The,  at  the  siege  of  Lon- 
donderry, 295 
Pico  della  Mirandola,  quoted  [See- 

bohm,  117],  127;  account  of  [See- 

bohm,  9;   Villari,   1-77,   88,   244], 

127 
Picton  Island,  Commander  Gardiner 

at  [Marsh's  Memoir,  348],  347 
Piers  Plowman,  see  Langland 
Pilgrim,  the  Bordeaux   [Thierry,  i. 

36],  24,  78 

Pilgrim  Fathers,  the,  230 
Pilgrimages,  78-80 ;  satirized,  80 
Pitman,  Dr,  his  school,  Cowper  at, 

319 
Pitt,  William,  friend  of  Wilberforce 

["  Life,"  passim],  306 
Plymouth,  U.S.A.,  230 
Poissy,  Henry  of  Navarre  at,  198 
Poitiers,  27,  69 
Poitiers,  Diane  de,  see  Diane 
Poitou,   Bas-,   wolves  called  **Sou- 

bises"in,  189 
Pont  de  Montvert,  affair  of  [Peyrat, 

i.  287  seq.],  220,  221 
Pontigny,  monastery  of,  86 
Pope,  his  "Eloiseto  Abelard  "quoted, 

96 
Possidius,  biographer  of  Augustine, 

quoted  ["Vita,"  Aug.  31],  18 
Port  Royal,  abbey  of,  214,  215 
Port-Royalists,  the,  203,  216 
Prague  and  Wyclif,  115 
Prague,  Jerome  of,  see  Jerome 
"  Praying  Indians,"  Eliot's,  334 
Pre-aux-clercs,  the,  147 
Prelacy,  Scottish  feeling  against,  261, 

286 
Prestonpans,  death  of  CoL  Gardiner 

at     [Doddridge,    179    seq.],    352, 
353 

Primers,  mediaeval,  144 
Prison  reform,  331,  332 
Privas,  188 
Probyn,    Mr   and    Mrs,    and    their 

children,  361,  364 


INDEX 


411 


'rocopius  cited  [Boll,  Gotth.,  iv.  20], 
56 
'rosni,    widow,     at    La     Rochelle 

[Puaux,  v.  187  *<??.],  213,  214 
'salms,  the,  the  early  Christians  and 
[Palmer's  Dissertations,  285  seq.], 
11,  12;  antiphonal  chanting  of, 
introduced  by  Ambrose,  18;  re- 
vised by  Jerome,  25;  Athanasius' 
"Exposition"  and  "Titles,"  29; 
Methodius  and  Cyril  translate,  44 ; 
in  monastic  life,  46,  60 ;  recited  by 
Kentigern,  54 ;  by  St  Neot,  65 ;  by 
pilgrims,  79 ;  by  Stephen  Harding 
[Newman,  i.  12],  84 ;  Wilfrid  and, 
63;  Savonarola  on,  120, 121 ;  Luther 
and,  122,  127 ;  Bishop  Hooper  on, 
138 ;  Council  of  Toulouse  and,  144 ; 
Prayer  Book  version  of,  145 ;  in 
public  worship,  145,  185,  265; 
Huguenots  and,  182  teq. ;  Calvin 
introduces  chanting  at  Geneva, 
185 ;  Antoine  Arnauld  and,  215 ; 
singing  of,  in  Scotland,  265 ;  trans- 
lation in  Persian,  343 

Psalms,  metrical  versions  of,  Addi- 
son,  319;  Ainsworth,  230;  Bacon, 
172;  Barlow,  231;  Baxter,  302; 
Beza,  185,  186,  193,  205;  Black- 
more,  8  ;  Brady,  148  ;  Bryt  nt,  231 ; 
Buchanan,  262;  Calvin,  184,  185; 
Carlyle,124;  Corneille,  204 ;  Craig, 
148,  150;  Daye,  148;  Desportes, 
204;  Dwight,  231;  Eliot,  333; 
Elizabeth,  Queen,  161,  172; 
Fletcher,  172;  Godeau,  204,  205; 
Heine,  207;  Hopkins,  147-149; 
James  I.,  149,  172;  Keble,  307; 
Kethe,  148,  149,  150;  Lindsay, 
262;  Luther,  124;  Marillac,  204; 
Marot,  124,  147,  180  »eq.,  205; 
Mather,  231 ;  Metezeau,  204 ;  Mil- 
bourne,  8;  Milton,  243;  Parker, 
148 ;  Pembroke,  Countess  of,  169 ; 
Racine,  204;  Rous,  150,  345; 
Sandys,  7  ;  Sidney,  Sir  Philip,  169, 
172;  Spenser,  169,  172;  Sternhold, 
147-150;  Surrey,  Earl  of,  172; 
Tate,  148 ;  Waldis,  145 ;  Wedder- 
burns,  the,  2(>2;  Whittingham, 
148;  Wisedome,  148;  Wyatt,  172 

Psalter,  battle  of  the  [Montalembert, 
iii.  20-26],  50 

Puertocarrero,  Tomas  de  [Stirling- 
Maxwell,  "  Charles  V.,"  323],  125 

QUERCY,  Francois  Rochette  in,  226 

RABEC,  Jean,  death  of  [Crespin,  p, 
374],  193 


Rabelais  at  Liguge*   [see  Appendix 

A],  28 

Racine  translates  the  Psalter,  204 
Raikes,  Robert,  330 
Raleigh,    Sir    Walter,    168;    quoted 

["Hist   of  the  World,"  book  ii., 

chap,  xvii.],  168,  169 
Rang,  Louis,  225;  death  of  [Peyrat, 

ii.  405],  225 

Regent  Square,  Edward  Irving  in,  312 
'•  Reign  of  Terror,  The,"  356 
Religion  in  the  eighteenth  century, 

297-301 

"  Remnant,  The,"  270,  278 
Re"mond,  Florimond  de,  quoted  [see 

Douen,  i.  3],  181,  228 
Remy,  St,  blesses  Clovis,  69 
Renard,  Spanish  ambassador,  153 
Renard,  Rues  du,  189 
"  Reynard  the  Fox,"  80 
Renwick,   James,   271 ;    account    of 

[  Wodrow,  iv.  446-454 ;  "  Cloud  of 

Witnesses,"  483  seq.'],  284,  285 
Revolution,  the  French,  and  Irving's 

preaching,  312 
Rhe\  island  of,  213 
Riccio,  David,  161, 163 
Richard  I.  at  the  Crusades,  82 
Richard,    prior    and    sacrist    of   St 

Mary's,  York,  87  seq.  ;  tirst  abbot 

of  Fountains,  88 
Richelieu,  Cardinal  de,  213 
Richelieu,  Due  de,  227 
Richmond,   Margaret,   Countess    of, 

and  Bishop  Fisher,  131 
Ridley,  Bishop,  death  of  [Fox,  1555], 

139,  140 
Rievaulx        founded        [Newman's 

"  Saints,"  v.  108],  86 
Ripon,  abbey  of,  63,  64,  88 
Robert,  abbot  of  Molesme,  85 
Rocamadour,  pilgrimages  to,  80 
Rochelle,    La,    182,    196;    siege    of 

[Puaux,  v.  180  seq. ;  and  see  Ap- 
pendix A,  chap,   viii.],  198,   199, 

213,  214 

Rochester,  Earl  of,  quoted,  149 
Rochette,  Francois,  account  of  [Pey- 

rat,  ii.  435],  226-228 
Rodrigues,      island      of,      Francois 

Leguat  at,  183 
Roger,  Jacques,  death  of  [Peyrat,  ii. 

406],  225,  226 
Rogers,  Samuel,  his  "  Italy  "  quoted, 

78 
Rohan,  Henri,  Due  de  [see  Appendix 

A,  chap,  viii.],  212,  213 
Roland,  Camisard  leader  [Peyrat,  ii 

fll  seq.] ,223,  224 
Rolle,  Richard,  of  Hampole,  144 
Romanes,  G.  J..  10 ;  quoted,  318 


412 


INDEX 


Rome,  monasticisra  in,  23  seq. ;  taken 
by  Alaric  [Gibbon,  chap.  xxxi.  ],  40 

Ffcomney  Marsh,  13 

Roper,  Margaret,  129,  130 

Rostislaf,  95 

Rouen,  death  of  William  the  Con- 
queror at,  93 

Rous,  Francis,  his  version  of  the 
Psalter,  7,  150,  345 

Rousseau,  Jean,  the  painter,  and  the 
Duchess  of  Orleans  [Douen,  i.  21], 
187,  188 

Roxburgh's  "  Flora  Indica,"  338 

Royal  arms,  the,  supporters  of,  3 

Rule  of  Antony,  43  ;  of  Basil,  43  ;  of 
Benedict  [Montalembert,  i.  417 ; 
Bened.  Regula],  43,  58,  59,  60,  62, 
66,  67;  of  Cistercians  [Newman, 
••Life  of  Harding,"  chap,  xvii.], 
85,86;  of  Isidore,  43  ;  ofMacarius, 
43  ;  of  Reformed  Carmelites,  136 

Rullion  Green,  battle  at  [Wodrow, 
ii.  30  wgr.],  271,  272,  273;  inscrip- 
tion at,  273 

Rump,  the,  258 

Runjepoorah,  William  Edwards  at, 
362 

Rupert,  Prince,  at  Chalgrove  Field, 
241,  242 

Ruskin,  8;  on  Sir  Philip  Sidney, 
169  ;  and  Carlyle,  325, 326 ;  account 
of,  326,  329 

Rye,  the  river,  86 

Rye  House  Plot,  the,  284 

SACHS,  Hans,  337 

St    Agnes'    Mount,    monastery    of, 

Thomas  a  Kempis  at,  9,  101 
St  Andrews,  Wishart  at,  263 
St  Angelo,  Gregory  VII.  a  prisoner 

in,  73 
St  ApolMnare  Nuovo,  church  of,  at 

Ravenna,  6 

St  Brelade's,  sundial  at,  4 
St  Gervais,  abbey  of,   William  the 

Conqueror  dies  at,  93 
St  Germain-en-Laye,  treaty  of,  197 
St  John,  Mrs,  cousin  of  Oliver  Crom- 
well, 251 

St  Gildas  de  Rhuys,  abbey  of,  96 
St    Sophia,   cathedral   of,    at   Kieff, 

inscription  [Hare's  "  Russia,"  447- 

450],  39 

Saintes,  27  ;  Palissy  at,  184 
Saladin,  Jerusalem  taken  by,  81 
Salem,  U.S.A.,  Pilgrim  Fathers  at, 

281 

Salerno,  tomb  of  Hildebrand  at,  72 
Sales,  St  Francois  de,  see  Francois 
Salindres,  bridge  of,  battle  at  [Pey- 

rat,ii.  91  seq.},  223,  224 


Salmasius,  10 

San  Chan,  island  of,  death  of  Xavier 

at,  134,  135 
Sanderson,  Robert,  bishop  of  Lincoln, 

account  of  [Walton],  233,  235 
Sandys,    George,    versifier    of    the 

Psalms,  7 

San  Michele,  sundial  at,  4 
Sanquhar,  «•  Declaration  "  read  at,  278 
Saracen,  the  converted  [Gregory  of 

Decapolis,  Serm.  Hist.,  xxix.],  13 
Savonarola,    117,    account    of    [see 

Appendix   A,  chap,  v.],  118-121; 

portraits  of,  118,  121 
Scheffer,  Ary,  his  picture  of  Augustine 

and  Monica,  17 
Schlavia,  Anselm  at,  75 
Scholastica,  St,  sister  of  Benedict,  59 
Schopp,    Caspar,    his    "  Classicum 

Belli  Sacri,"  151 
Schuch,  Wolfgang,  burned  at  Nancy 

[Crespin,  p.  88],  190,  191 
Schwartz,    Christian    Friedrich,    his 

mission    church    at    Tranquebar, 

338 

Science,  mediaeval,  99,  100 
Scott,  Thomas,  303,  305 
Scott,  Sir  Walter,  8  ;  quoted  ("  Mar- 

mion,"  II.  xvi.),  53 ;  characters  in 

his    novels,    272,  273;    his    death 

[Lockhart,  vii.  389],  321 
Scottish  Kirk,  the,  see  Charles  L  and 

Charles  II. 

Scrooby,  Separatists  at,  229 
Seal,  old  Huguenot,  183 
Seeker,  Archbishop,  quoted  by  Bos- 
well  [Works,  i.  223],  320,  321 
Sedan,  death  of  Andrew  Melville  at, 

266 
Selwyn,    George,    and    Wilberforce 

["Life    of    Wilberforce,"   L    16], 

306 
•«  Separatists,     The,"     at     Scrooby 

[Arber,   p.  329],  229;   at  Leyden 

[ibid.],  230 

Serampore,  William  Carey  at,  338 
Sergius,  the  hermit,  83 
Serlo,  the  monk,  history  of  Fountains, 

86 
Seuffel,    Ludwig,    correspondent    of 

Luther,  16 

Severinus,  of  Noricum,  42 
Severus,  persecution  of,  19 
Sevigne,  Madame  de  [Letter  342, 

ed.  1838],  214 
Shakespeare,  8;  quoted,  52,  81,  149, 

229,  239 ;  the  Psalms  in,  172-175 
Sharp,    James,    Archbishop     of    St 

Andrews  [Wodrow,  iii.],  268;  and 

Hugh  M'Kail,   273;    his   murder, 

276 


INDEX 


413 


Sharpe,      Granville,     colleague     of 

Wilberforce,  306 

Sherborne,  Stephen  Harding  at,  84 
Shiraz,  Henry  Martyn  at,  343 
Shrewsbury,    Earl    of,    and    Mary, 

Queen  of  Scots,  166 
Sidney,  Sir  Philip,  7,  168 ;  his  trans- 
lation of  the  Psalms,  169 
Sidonius  Apollinaris  cited,  14 
Siena,  Spinello's  frescoes  at,  77 
Sigisraund  at  Council  of  Constance, 

116 
Silvia,  mother  of  Gregory  the  Great 

[Greg.  Vita,  fr.  83 ;  apud  Migne, 

Ixxv.  230],  57 
Silvia   of  Aquitaine   [see  Appendix 

A,  chap,  iv.],  79 
Simeon,  Charles,  305 
Simonoff  monastery,  83 
Simpson,  Sir  James,  his  "Mother's 

Psalm,"  318 
Skell,  the  river,  88 
Skene,    James,    CargilTs    letter    to 

["Cloud  of  Witnesses,"  13],  279 
Slave-trade,  abolition  of,  306,  330 
Smith,  Sydney,  on  the  Baptists,  338  ; 

Carlyle  on,  354 
Smith,  Sir  Thomas,  7 
Soana,  Gregory  VII.  born  at,  72 
Sobieski,  John,  war-cry  of,  80,  182 
Soissons,  Crispin  and  Crispinian  at, 

12 
Sorbonne,  the,  and  Robert  Estienne, 

186  ;  and  Clement  Marot,  191 
Soubise  (Le  roi  des  Parpaillaux),  189 
"Soubises,"  "  Pierres  de  Soubise," 

189 
Southwell,      Robert,      account     of 

[Works,     Introd.,     ed.     Grosart, 

xlix.-lix.],  141-143;   quoted  [ibid., 

62,   84,  103,  ed.   Grosart,  p.  lii.], 

142 

"Spectator,  The,"  quoted,  319 
Speedwell,  The,  at  Delft  [Arber,  329], 

230 
Spenser,  Edmund,  his  version  of  the 

Penitential    Psalms    [Works,    ed. 

Payne-Collier,  i.,  Ixxv.],  169 
Spinello,   his    frescoes    at    Florence 

[Montalembert,    i.    410],    42;    at 

Siena,  77 
Stael,  Madame  de,  and  Wilberforce 

["  Life    of  Wilberforce,"  iv.   158, 

167],  306 
Stanley,  Dean,  his  favourite  psalm, 

310 
Stanley,  H.  M.,  finds  Livingstone, 

351 

Steinach,  the,  Gall  at,  47 
Stephen,  the  martyr,  6 
Sternhold,  Thomas,  147-150 


Stewart,  Sir  Thomas,  uncle  of  Oliver 
Cromwell  [Carlyle,  i.  81],  251 

Stoddart,  Colonel,  death  of,  at  Bok- 
hara, 359 

Stones,  Druidic,  names  for,  in 
France,  189;  superstitions  con- 
cerning, in  S.W.  France  [see 
Appendix  A,  chap,  iv.],  110 

Strada  cited  [de  Bello  Belgico,  Libb. 
iii.  and  v.J,  181 

Strafford,  Earl  of,  his  trial  and 
death,  235-238 

Strasburg,  Bishop  Hooper  at,  137 

Stridon,  birthplace  of  Jerome,  24 

Suffolk,  Duke  of,  152,  153 

Sundials  [see  Appendix  A],  4 

Sussex,  Wilfrid  in,  64 

Swift,  the,  Wyclif's  ashes  thrown 
into,  114 

Symonds,  servant  to  Darnley,  164 

TAGUS,  the,  passage  of,  82 

Tanfield  Hall,  Chalmers  at  [Hanna, 
iv.  3411,  311 

Tanlay,  Coligny  at,  194,  195 

Tarn,  the,  220,  221 

Tartars,  the,  in  Russia,  83 

Tasso,  death  of,  127 

Tate,  Nahum,  148 

Taylor,  page  to  Darnley,  164 

Taylor,  Jeremy,  232,  233;  quoted 
[Works,  vol.  xv.,  p.  97],  233 

Telesia,  monastery  at,  75 

Tellier,  Miohel  le,  chancellor  [Puaux, 
vi.  87  *«y.],  218 

Templars,  the,  battle-cry  of,  80 

Tennyson,  his  "Crossing  the  Bar" 
279  ;  quoted  ("  Rizpah  "),  323 ;  on 
Edward  Fitzgerald,  324 

Teresa,  St,  117 ;  account  of  [Cole- 
ridge, i.  4,  8;  ii.  362,  369-70],  136, 
137 

Thebaid,  the,  23 

Theodore  the  Martyr  ["Diet  Chris- 
tian Biography,"  iv.  956],  13 

Theodore  of  Mopsuestia,  quoted, 
14 

Theodosius,  The  Emperor,  and  Am- 
brose [Bright's  "  Fathers,"  i.  519  ; 
Baunard,  448-456],  32 

Theodosius,  De  Situ  Terrse  Sanctae 
[See  Appendix  A,  chap,  iv.],  79 

Theonas,  St,  church  of  [Bright's 
"  Fathers,"  i.  240 ;  "  History,"  76, 
77;  Stanley's  "Eastern  Church," 
283],  30 

Thessalonica,  massacre  at,  32 

Thomas,  "Little  Alphabet  of  the 
Monks,"  etc.  [see  Appendix  A, 
chap.  iv. ;  Kettlewell,  ii.  119  seq.]t 
102 


414 


INDEX 


Thomas,  Surgeon,  friend  of  William 

Carey,  337 

Thomas  Aquinas,  St,  60 
Thomas,  St,  of  Villanova,  10 
Thomson,  his  "  Hymn"  quoted,  46 
Tiberius  II.,  13 
Tierra  del  Fuego,  Allen  Gardiner  at 

[Marsh's  Memoir,  346],  346,  347 
Tobie,  The,  wreck  of  [see  Appendix 

A,  chap,  vi.],  170 
Toledo,  Council  of,  46 
Topcliffe,    the   executioner    [South- 
well, ed.  Grosart,  liv.],  141 
Torquemada,  178 
Torwood,  Cargill  at,  279 
Totila  and  Benedict  [Montalembert, 

i.  410],  42 
Tours,  Martin  at,  28 ;  Clovis  at,  69 ; 

"Le  Roi  Hugon,"  189 
Toulouse,  Council  of,  144 ;  Rochette 

at,  227 

Tower  of  London,  the,  140 
Tracy,  murderer  of  Becket,  76 
Tranent,    Col.    James    Gardiner    at 

[Doddridge,  188],  353 
Tranquebar,  church  at,  338 
Treasure,    hidden,    superstitions    in 

S.W.    France   [see   Appendix  A, 

chap.  iv.J,  110 
Tulliver,    Maggie    ("Mill    on    the 

Floss"),  9 
Tunis,  death    of   St   Louis   at,  98; 

Vincent  de  Paul,  slave  at,  206 
Turkey  merchantmen,  the  five  [see 

Appendix  A,  chap,  vi.],  169,  170 
Turstin,    archbishop    of  York,    87, 

88 
Tylney,  Elizabeth,  with  Lady  Jane 

Grey,  155 
Tyndall,  his  version  of  the  -Psalter, 

145 
Tyrconnel,  Lord,  at  siege  of  Derry, 

[Walker,  ed.  Dwyer],  290 

UJIJT,  Livingstone  at  [Last  Journals, 

ii.  155],  350 
Unyanyembe,  Livingstone  at  [ibid., 

229],  351 

Urban  II.,  Pope,  and  Anselm,  75 
Uzes,  cathedral  at,  188 

VALENS,    The  Emperor,    and    Basil 

[Bright's  •*  Fathers,"  i.  373  ;  Greg. 

Naz.  orat.,  xx.  xliii.],  31 
Valladolid,   death  of  Columbus  at, 

127 

Vassy,  massacre  at,  193 
Vaudois,  the  [Monastier,  ii.  91,  126; 

Douen,  i.  23  w.],  217,  218 
Vaughan,  Henry,  the  Silurist,  7 
Venice,  Barbarossa  at,  77 


Vendee,  La,  insurrection  ["Les 
Chouans,"  ii.  135  »eq.\  355, 
356 

Venn,  Henry,  303,  305 

Victoria  Nyanza,  Lake,  Bishop  Han- 
ningtonat,  351,  352 

Vienne  river,  Clovis  at,  69 

Vililla,  bell  of  [Stirling-Maxwell's 
"Charles  V.,"  266],  125 

Vincennes,  Madame  Guyon  at,  216 

Vincent  de  Paul,  203 ;  account  of 
[Wilson,  18-22],  205,  206 

Vincentius  of  Lerins,  61 

Virgilius,  Celtic  saint,  44 

Vladimir  St,  baptism  of  [Stanley's 
"Eastern  Church,"  359;  Moura- 
vieff,  14,  15],  94 

Vladimir  Monomachus,  10,  93 ; 
account  of  [Stanley's  "  Eastern 
Church,"  359;  Palmer's  Disserta- 
tions, 92-3;  Mouravieff,  31,  363], 
94,  95 ;  dying  injunctions  to  his 
son  [Karamsin,  ii.  203-9  ;  Stanley, 
372  ««£.],  95 

Voltaire,  "  Henriade  "quoted  [Chant 
II.,  121-4],  195 

Vougle,  battle  of,  69 

WALDIS,  Burkhard,  of  Hesse,  versi- 
fies Psalter,  145 

Walker,  George,  at  siege  of  Derry, 
290,  291,  292 ;  quoted  [ed.  Dwyer, 
20,  37],  290,  292,  296 ;  his  sermon 
[ed.  Dwyer,  105  «w.]t  293-295 

Walker,  Patrick,  on  Prelacy,  quoted 
["  Six  Saints,"  ii.  4],  261 ;  his  "  Six 
Saints"  quoted,  272,  277,  281,  282, 
283 

Wallace,  "Quaker,"  at  the  Secun- 
drabagh  [Forbes-Mitchell,  56],  364, 
365 

Wallace,  William,  93;  death  of 
[Tytier,  i.  279-80],  99 

Wallis,  Widow  (the  Particular  Bap- 
tists at  Kettering),  337 

Walsingham,  pilgrimages  to,  80; 
Thomas  of  [Rolls  Series,  28,  16,  p. 
119],  114 

Walton,  Izaak,  his  "  Life  of  Sander- 
son "  quoted,  233-235 

"  Walton,  young,"  killed  at  Marston 
Moor  [Carlyle,  "Cromwell,"  i. 
167],  252 

"  Wanderers,  The,"  account  of,  274, 
275 

"Wandering  Willie,"  his  saying 
["  Redgauntlet,"  Letter  xi.],  276 

Watts,  Isaac,  8 

Waverley,  Cistercians  at  [Newman's 
"  Saints,"  v.  167  n.],  86 

Wearmouth,  monastery  at,  62 


INDEX 


415 


Vedderburns,  the,  their  "Spiritual 

Sanges,"  262  ;  quoted,  263 
Velsh,   Mr,    •*  outed "  minister,    at 

Irongray  [Blackader],  269 
Velsh,  Jane  (Carlyle),  311 ;  quoted, 

355 
Vesley,  Charles,  8,  303  ;  account  of, 

305  ;  death  of,  305  ;  hymns  of,  305 
Vesley,    John,     339 ;     and     Law's 

"Serious   Call"   [Journal,  i.    94], 

303;    account  of,   304;   death   of, 

304;    his    "Collection  of    Psalms 

and  Hymns"   [see  Appendix  A, 

chap,  xi.],  305 
tVhewell,     William,    quoted    as    to 

Julius  Hare,  309 
Whitby,  sundial  at,  4 
vVhitefield,  George  [Tyerman,  i.  16], 

303 
Whitehall,    Cromwell's    speeches    in 

the  Painted  Chamber  [Carlyle,  iv. 

218,  220],  251,  259 
VVhittingham,  versifier  of  the  Psalms, 

148 

Wight,  Isle  of,  Wilfrid  in,  64 
Wigtown    Martyrs,    the     [Wodrow, 

iv.  248,  249 ;  "  Cloud  of  Witnesses," 

440],  287,  288 
'  Wild  Whigs,  The,"  270 
Wilberforce,    William,    account    of 

[see  Appendix  A,  chap.  XL],  306, 

307 
Wilfrid,    St,    10,    62;    and    Psalter 

[Montalembert,  iii.    376-378],   63; 

account  of  [ibid.,  iii.  376-381,  412; 

iv.  33,  48,  72,  108],  63,  64 
Wilkie,    James,     primarius     of     St 

Andrews    [Melville's    Diary,  27], 

265 
William    the    Conqueror,  and  Lan- 

franc,    73;    death    of    [Ordericus 

Vitalis,  VIII.,  xiv.  and  xvi.l,  93 
William  Rufus  and  Anselm  [Monta- 
lembert, vi.  158  seq.},  74,  75 
William  of  Orange,  landing    of   in 

England,  288 
Wilson,    Margaret,    271;     death    of 

[Wodrow,  iv.  248,  249],  287,  288 
Winchester,  Marquis  of,  at   Basing 

House,  253 
Winslow,  Governor,  quoted  [Arber, 

"  Pilgrim  Fathers,"  329],  230 


Wise    men    of    the    East,    the,    in 

Christian  Art,  3 
Wisedome,  versifier  of  the  Psalms, 

148 
Wishart,  George,  account  of  [Knox, 

i.  125  wa.]'  261-264 
Wither,    George,    versifier    of    the 

Psalms,  7 

Woburn  Abbey,  Carthusians  of,  192 
Wodrow,  Robert,  cited,  279  ;  quoted, 

286 

Woolos,  St,  at  Newport  (Mon.),  56 
Worcester,  battle  of  [Carlyle,  iii.  172- 

3],  256,  257 

Wordsworth,  8;  quoted  (Ecclesi- 
astical Sonnets),  78,  239 ;  quoted 

("  Excursion  "),  322 
Worms,  Diet  of,  124 
Wotton,  Sir  Henry,  7 
Wurtemburg,  Roger  ordained  at,  225 
Wyatt,  Sir  Thomas,  versifier  of  the 

Psalms,  7,   172;    insurrection    of, 

153 
Wyclif,  John,  10,  80,  121 ;  death  of, 

113 

XAINTON,  inscription  at,  189 

Xavier,  Francis,  10,  117;  death  of 
[Coleridge,  ii.  572],  134,  135  ;  his 
••  O  Deus,  ego  amo  Te  "  translated 
[Latin  text  in  Coleridge,  i.  315], 
134 

Ximenes,  Cardinal,  10 ;  at  Oran  [von 
Hefele,  transl.  Dalton,  p.  419],  83 

YAROSLAFF,  builds  church  of  St  Sophia 

at  Kieff,  39 
York,  Duke  of,  and  Cargill  [Wodrow, 

book  iii.,  chap.  4],  279  ;  and  Peden 

["Six  Saints, 'i.  90],  283 
York,  St  Mary's  Abbey  at,  87 
Yuste,  Jeromite  convent,  Charles  V. 

at,  125 

ZANZIBAR,     Livingstone     at     [Last 

Journals,  i.  1  seq.~\,  350 
Zulus,    the,    Commander   Allen    F. 

Gardiner   and    [Marsh's  Memoir, 

chap,  iv.],  346 

Zurich,  Bishop  Hooper  at,  137 
Zwingli,  146 


PRINTED  BY 

OLIVER  AND  BOYD 

EDINBURGH 


OVERDUE>  >    °N    THE    SEVENTH 


REC'D  LD 

FEB  2  0  1961 


MAR  13  1947 
JUN   2    | 


YC  297 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


